Listen

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

Matthew 13:44

Think

Finally, something that sounds like a kingdom: hidden treasure! Protected by a magic spell? Guarded by a dragon? Nope—“hidden in a field.” Picture someone walking home, taking a shortcut through the field, noticing an odd corner of a rock sticking up. A little digging with a stick and hands, and wowzers! Quick, cover it up before anybody else sees. Run home, sell the house, sell the car, borrow some money from Uncle John, and make the owner of the field an offer he can’t refuse.

Jesus says the kingdom is like that—a treasure, that once you found it, would make you so incredibly happy that you would sell everything to buy it.

Well, you can’t buy it. You can have it, but you can’t own it. The kingdom belongs to God, who wants to give it to you for nothing. Well, for nothing except your life, your whole self. To gain the kingdom, you have to give yourself to God.

Richard Vinson

Pray

Dear God, thank you for inviting me into your kingdom. I accept with gratitude and joy! Amen.

Go

Maybe it’s not just a romantic notion. The kingdom comes in things that are very small, but that can become something great; something worth giving everything you have to be part of it.

The kingdom is something fine, worth more than we can imagine. And it is worth all the more when we share what we know about it, though we will never understand it completely.

Go now to give it all away.