Matt. 13:44-46
I’m a dog lover, and I have been since I got my first one at ten years old. I’ve always had small dogs, and my wife and I got our first one about a year into our marriage. We rapidly expanded our family to another dog and two cats for our home. I love coming home to the dogs, since no matter what type of day I’ve had, no matter how many people I’ve disappointed, I’m suddenly a rock star when I walk through the door.
But there’s one really nasty habit they picked up, and I didn’t see it coming since this was the first time I’ve had dogs and cats in the same house. Apparently, dogs love cat poop. Yes, you read that right. They raid the litter box every time they have access, and their breath advertises it. To us that stuff in the box is nastiness incarnate, but to them it’s buried treasure.
The reason I bring this up (and I apologize if you were reading this while eating something) is because it certainly illustrates that one man’s treasure is another man’s um. . . well, you get the idea. The problem is that people spend their lives searching for things that won’t satisfy. They invest their time, their talents, and their treasure in things that will one day be dust and ashes. You might have laughed just now at my dogs’ antics, but how foolish are the choices you’re making?
Jesus, in today’s passage, compared the Kingdom of Heaven to two different things, but the images are meant to convey the same idea. Whatever I give up in service to my King, it’s worth it. This doesn’t contradict in the slightest the teaching about salvation by grace through faith. But he does call us to give up on ourselves, to surrender our old way of life when we come to him. He invites us to come to him as we are, but part of receiving him is repentance, which means we commit ourselves to doing things his way from now on.
But whatever he calls us to give up for him, it’s not really a sacrifice, at least not in the end. The man who discovered the treasure in the field (like finding a gold mine on some property) would look like a fool in paying so high a price, but he wouldn’t look at it that way. The same goes for the merchant who discovered the valuable pearl: He considered everything he had to be a small enough price to pay for it.
Throughout history, both in the Bible and outside it, there's never been anyone who gave up something for the Lord who ended up regretting it in the end. And the reverse is true as well: There'll come a day when we'll regret the opportunities we squandered. Like my dogs, we all tend to make some poor choices in what we consider treasure.
Lord Jesus, whatever you ask of me, it’s worth it. You will never end up being a debtor to anyone. Please help me to trust you, to see with eternity coloring my choices.
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