Is Jesus your ultimate treasure?
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| English: Stained glass panel in the nave of St. John's Anglican Church, Ashfield, New South Wales (NSW). This window depicts Jesus Christ welcoming children and teaching "of such is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:14). The inscription on this memorial window reads "To the Glory of God and in Commemoration of all the Baptisms in this Church † Erected John the Baptist Day 1932". (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
A Treasure Hidden in a Field
One of Jesus’s parables in Matthew’s Gospel follows a man into a field. He’s walking through the field and stumbles on something unusual, something out of place. He probably didn’t know what he’d found at first. He never expected to find random riches in a field. But he did. He had discovered a lifetime’s worth of wealth, just lying unguarded, unclaimed in his path.
How can I have this treasure? What do I have to give or do to own and experience and spend this treasure forever? That was the man’s response, and he knew he had to own the field to have the treasure. So he sold everything he had so that he would have enough money to buy the field.
One of Jesus’s parables in Matthew’s Gospel follows a man into a field. He’s walking through the field and stumbles on something unusual, something out of place. He probably didn’t know what he’d found at first. He never expected to find random riches in a field. But he did. He had discovered a lifetime’s worth of wealth, just lying unguarded, unclaimed in his path.
How can I have this treasure? What do I have to give or do to own and experience and spend this treasure forever? That was the man’s response, and he knew he had to own the field to have the treasure. So he sold everything he had so that he would have enough money to buy the field.
Worth All
Everything. The point of the parable is to highlight the infinite, precious worth of knowing Jesus and being known by him. The man sold everything to have this treasure. He gave up his home, his furniture, his livestock — anything that had any value. He sacrificed things he had made, gifts that had been given to him, possessions he’d had for years and years. He said goodbye to it all in an instant, and he did so because he could see what he would gain would far surpass everything he’d ever owned up until that point.
If we don’t love and treasure Jesus like this, then we don’t know him. Everlasting life in and with him is simply and undeniably worth more than anything else we can buy or build or obtain here on earth. Massive homes are as nothing. Beautiful, expensive cars are as nothing. Clothing, hobbies, Apple products, books, businesses, animals, televisions — all nothing compared with our Christ. He is worth all to us.
Everything. The point of the parable is to highlight the infinite, precious worth of knowing Jesus and being known by him. The man sold everything to have this treasure. He gave up his home, his furniture, his livestock — anything that had any value. He sacrificed things he had made, gifts that had been given to him, possessions he’d had for years and years. He said goodbye to it all in an instant, and he did so because he could see what he would gain would far surpass everything he’d ever owned up until that point.
If we don’t love and treasure Jesus like this, then we don’t know him. Everlasting life in and with him is simply and undeniably worth more than anything else we can buy or build or obtain here on earth. Massive homes are as nothing. Beautiful, expensive cars are as nothing. Clothing, hobbies, Apple products, books, businesses, animals, televisions — all nothing compared with our Christ. He is worth all to us.
All Our Strength
Our Treasure is all our strength when we feel weak. Paul writes, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). The God and Savior who is worth all also works all for us. When we fall down, he’s near to the broken and the broken-hearted. When we feel dry, he’s the sustenance and strength our soul needs. At every point that we are weak, his strength fills us and consumes our weakness in order to show the measure of his power.
Our Treasure is all our strength when we feel weak. Paul writes, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). The God and Savior who is worth all also works all for us. When we fall down, he’s near to the broken and the broken-hearted. When we feel dry, he’s the sustenance and strength our soul needs. At every point that we are weak, his strength fills us and consumes our weakness in order to show the measure of his power.
All Our Heart
He is our strength, and he is the right and insatiable desire of our hearts. “Seeking you as a precious jewel. Lord, to give up I’d be a fool.” It is foolish to stop looking for more and more of Jesus. Every new thing we see — everything we learn about this Savior — offers us more joy, more faith, more rest. Jesus is a never-ending, never-exhausted banquet of good for our souls. Nothing tastes better to our hearts than him, and because of the gospel we can keep eating and eating for all eternity.
All Our Hope
John the Baptist had prepared the way for Jesus and his ministry, and when he finally saw the Christ, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). The greatest, most severe crisis for the world and each of us in it is sin. We have no hope if someone cannot or does not intervene on our behalf. The good news is that the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, has taken our sin, our cross, our shame on himself by dying for us, and then he defeated sin and death for us by rising again. All our hope is with the crucified and risen Treasure of our hearts.
He truly is, and will be, our all in all.
He is our strength, and he is the right and insatiable desire of our hearts. “Seeking you as a precious jewel. Lord, to give up I’d be a fool.” It is foolish to stop looking for more and more of Jesus. Every new thing we see — everything we learn about this Savior — offers us more joy, more faith, more rest. Jesus is a never-ending, never-exhausted banquet of good for our souls. Nothing tastes better to our hearts than him, and because of the gospel we can keep eating and eating for all eternity.
All Our Hope
John the Baptist had prepared the way for Jesus and his ministry, and when he finally saw the Christ, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). The greatest, most severe crisis for the world and each of us in it is sin. We have no hope if someone cannot or does not intervene on our behalf. The good news is that the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, has taken our sin, our cross, our shame on himself by dying for us, and then he defeated sin and death for us by rising again. All our hope is with the crucified and risen Treasure of our hearts.
He truly is, and will be, our all in all.
