Ha! The above meme makes me wonder what we all miss in these days of technology - time with our grandkids, our kids, our friends, time reading something that might nourish our soul instead of clog our mind with other's opinions? Now this meme of course is a modern day look at an old truth, but Paul Tripp in his Lenten devotional Journey to the Cross gives an even deeper, applicable look into Matthew 13. It amplified its truth in a new way to me and I hope it will for you.
He starts with this quote:
The Christian life is a battle of treasure. Whatever treasure captures your heart will control your life.
So how does he relate that to the scripture story about the man who hunts for a treasure in a field, and then sells everything he owns to buy that field and treasure?
He starts by helping us to see that each of us is a treasure seeker. We hunt for treasure in relationships, careers, political parties, achievements, physical strength or beauty, positions of power to name a few. But we never seem to find that "heart-satisfying pot of gold that we're looking for, at least not in the created world." He directs our thoughts to realize that we can attach the desires of our heart and the hope of our lives to earthbound treasure or heavenward treasure. But what so many don't realize is that this search for meaning, purpose and security is in reality a search for a savior and will never be satisfied by anything else! He tells us, "We're all that man (in the parable). We're all traversing the fields of life, and we all have our heads down looking for something that will give us hope, something that will fix what is broken in and around us, something that will satisfy our hearts."
We are then confronted with the fact that we make sacrifices in this quest for treasure; businessmen who sacrifice time with their families to climb the ladder of success, teens that sacrifice their virtue to be popular, politicians who sacrifice their ethics to get elected. Have they found the thing that so satisfies that they don't even have the desire to search anymore? He asks us to ask ourselves the question: In what field and for what treasure are you making sacrifices?
And then He supplies the best answer: The only thing worth sacrificing everything for is the kingdom of heaven. In His rule is the place where I am freed from my bondage to the created things that never fully satisfy.
But then, we must all find that treasure in our own search.
The Real Treasure
We search for it endlessly -
The pot of gold that will satisfy
Our hopes, dreams and longings
That we testify...
Will finally break the bondage
We have in our restless soul,
That will finally quench our thirst
As we all strive to be made whole.
We think it's in the pursuits
We are confronted with on earth -
The success, achievements or circumstances
We think will fulfill our sense of worth.
And yet, the bible tells us
That the man who found the treasure,
Sold ALL for that field
In which he found the measure...
Of the only thing worth everything
That is not found upon this earth.
It may not even be realized
Though we know of the virgin birth...
That brought a savior to this earth,
To save us from our desperation
To find what will bring us life
And finally the cessation...
Of our endless search -
The treasure is freely given!
All we must do is surrender our life
And to accept we are forgiven...
And then we find our treasure
Not in this kingdom we see
But in the one we can start to live in
Even now - and for eternity!
- by Sherrill Schlimpert
