Is the kingdom your treasure?

'The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.' Matthew 13:44

Before we begin to look at this in detail, I want to highlight something. Jesus uses the words 'the kingdom of heaven' to express many different things. It can mean the gospel, God's judgement, the behaviour God expects from us. There is a key thing to note though, they all relate to us. They are about how people should interact with the kingdom of heaven.

It's a strange parable because it doesn't seem to be very Christian behaviour... the field which the man is digging in is not his own (he has to buy the field for himself) so he is either digging in someone else's field which is pretty out of order or he's a labourer digging in his employers field. He finds treasure, something incredibly valuable, realises its worth and then hides it again, goes out and sells all his possessions so that he can finance his purchase of the field and, with it, the treasure.

We can criticise him for a few reasons. The secrecy over the treasure. If this is the gospel, this hidden treasure, surely this is contrary to God's instruction to spread it over the earth? I suspect the problem often found with this parable is that we too easily relate the treasure to a single element of the kingdom. I think it's really about realisation and reaction.

Have we seen the kingdom for what it really is? Have we seen it as the most valuable treasure or have we missed the point? The man is indeed in the wrong to behave the way he does in the situation laid out but what Jesus is telling us is not about how we should behave in the world but about we should feel in our hearts!

Imagine, free of your morals, free of any kind of worry, in full knowledge of your plan's success, being the man in the story. Imagine the absolute dedication, the unstoppable urge, the greed. God says this is how we should feel about his kingdom.

We need to be greedy for God. Ravenous for him.

Greed in this world is bad because things are in limited supply. If someone eats too much food, they deprive others. They put their own desire (they eat because they want to eat of course) above consideration for others. The point is though, God is infinite and inexhaustible, we can gorge ourselves on him and he'll never be depleted! So where are the negative aspects of a greed for God?

If the kingdom isn't your number one priority, your love, think again! Go back to the word and find out exactly why you need to treasure it, why you need to follow it with such drive and determination.

Get hungry to see his kingdom come.