12/21/2022
In this world that is parched by sin we once longed to quench our thirst with a refreshing drink of living water. We thirsted for God and Jesus Christ in this wilderness of human suffering that included both our body that had been made like leather in the heat, and our soul that had become hardened like a sponge in a dry land. However, now we have found the well, and know where our help comes from, our help comes from the Lord. We sought, and now walk, refreshed by His grace. From the well of Christ we draw our cool drink, and fill our skins with life… living water. Yet having found Him, do we horde Him, or do we mercifully offer the water of life we have found to others who still thirst?
“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
Psalm 63:1 ESV
I love reading the parable of hidden treasure, but there are two ways we can look at it. The one that most of us choose to see is the good fortune of the man and we dwell on the value of heaven that would lead him to sell everything he has to possess it. But like in most parables, there is a hidden truth here… once the man found the treasure he covered it back up so that no one else would find it, and then bought it for himself. Let’s read it again…
““The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
Matthew 13:44 ESV
The value of heaven is not what is at issue in the second way of listening to this parable, but rather it is the man’s deception by covering it up, and his selfishness in wanting it for himself. He did not want to reveal the true value of the land to its current owner, nor did he want others to share in his joy at finding it. Is this what we do when we find a spiritual treasure in scripture, or discover Jesus to be a well of living water in our lives? In our dry land? When we discover the treasure of heaven what does Jesus tell us to do with it?
“And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”
Mark 16:15 ESV
For years I read this parable of the hidden treasure, and thought to myself “Oh what good fortune, I would surely sell all that I have too, and buy that land!” But then one day I realized that if I covered the treasure back up I would be denying the landowner his true compensation, and if I sought to own it I would be selfishly claiming the treasure for myself alone. I prayed straightway… “Father, never let me hide your heavenly kingdom from others, or seek to possess it solely for myself!”
“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
1 Timothy 4:16 ESV
When we find the Kingdom of God, it is most certainly a treasure, and is worth giving up all we own, but if we must deceive someone to drink its living water, or deny others their just compensation to possess it for ourselves, then have we really obtained heaven? Shouldn’t we do what the Samaritan woman at the well did when Jesus spoke to her and she discovered the treasure of Christ, and the truth of living water?
“So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him. Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.””
John 4:28-30, 39-42 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for allowing us to discover your kingdom, and to satisfy our thirst by drinking the living water that your Son Jesus offers us. Thank you Lord for teaching us to share your revelation and life giving water with all who will listen. Help us Holy Father to resist the temptation of greed that things of great value tempt us with… even the treasures of heaven. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God whose worth is beyond all we possess, except for our very lives. Teach us to leave the treasure of Christ we have uncovered in the field exposed, and teach us to announce it, as we call everyone to gaze upon it… to share in it. Praised be your name Father, because this treasure of belief redeems us from sin, and the living water that flows from Christ’s resurrection frees us from death. Help us as we shout the good news of the gospel to the world, and glorify you in so doing. Wash us clean of sin with the blood of Jesus, and transform us from the selfish creatures we once were into the righteous image of your Son Jesus Christ. Judge us to be worthy in Him, and to resist temptation as He did through the strength of your Word. Let the blood of Jesus, the Living Water we drink from the cup of the New Covenant, find its full promise in us, and allow us to dine with you at your eternal table forevermore.
Rich Forbes