A Mostly Forgotten Truth

In Matthew 13:44 Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is like a treasure found in a field.  A man found it, re-buried it, and then went out and bought the whole land.

Why?

Right?

Like, why not just take the treasure and run?  Why not take the treasure home and hide it under his mattress?  Why not put it in a bank?  Why not take it home and bury it in his own yard?  

Because the treasure was valuable, yes, but perhaps the land in which the treasure was buried was of equal value.

This is a great and mostly forgotten truth.

Think about it: why would the man go through the trouble of re-hiding the treasure, going to find out who owned the land, and buying the land if the land wasn’t just as valuable as the treasure that was buried in it?

The treasure was valuable, yes.

BUT.

The land in which the treasure was buried was also of great value.

This is interesting to me because in Luke 17:21 Jesus said that “the Kingdom of God is within you.”  In other words, the treasure of God’s Kingdom is buried in you.

In you.

In me.

In us.

In them.

In her.

In him.

In my friends.

In my enemies.

The Kingdom of God is the treasure and YOU and ME are the land in which that treasure is buried.  And so if that’s the case then according to Jesus’ words in Matthew, the treasure is of great value, yes.  The Kingdom of God is of great value, yes.  

BUT.

So are you, the land in which the Kingdom is planted.

May you know your incredible worth today, and may you never doubt that planted in you is the greatest treasure of all - the image of God, the image of the Creator, the very energy of the Christ and his love and grace and care and goodness ... the Kingdom of God.

On some days it might be hard to see and on some days it might feel like everyone else has that treasure except you.  Sometimes it might feel like your mistakes and shortcomings have drowned it out.  It might feel like you had it at one time, but God took it away because of your screw ups.  

Nah.

It’s there.  The landscape of your life is HUGE and the Kingdom is small (as Jesus said) like a mustard seed.  And so even though you might have trouble finding it or seeing it, it’s there.

May we trust in that today.

Much love,