Discipleship Devotional Study Guide – Like Treasure Hidden In A Field – Matthew 13:44-46 – Growing As Disciples
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. Matthew 13:44-46 (NIV)
Who’s Treasure?
What do you value? What would you be willing to devote your life to? Would any observer be able to answer that question for you based on what they have seen from your life? Those questions increased in difficulty as you asked them. Why do you say that? In theory it would be easy to say that I value you. You are what I prize above anything else. I would like to think that I am fully devoted to you. I believe that you are like a treasure hidden in a field or a precious pearl that I have sold all to buy. Am I really sold out to you? Is my life fully at your disposal? Am I willing to go and do whatever you ask me to do regardless of the cost? I’ve already said I’m all yours. Those are good questions for me to think about. Yes, they are. Let me ask you one more question. Go ahead, my head is already overwhelmed as I consider these thoughts. One more is not going to harm me. No, it won’t, especially if I ask it of you. Alright then, fire away.
Why do you want to be sold out and fully devoted to me? Don’t answer that yet, I want to help you to think about this. Great, I need all the help I can get. Yes, you do. Do you think that the man who bought the field did so out of a sense of obligation? Was he driven to sell everything because he felt guilty and knew that he should? How about the jeweler, did he feel it was a huge sacrifice on his part to sell everything to buy the finest most valuable pearl he had ever seen? No, in both cases they joyfully sold everything because they knew that they had found the treasure they had always been looking for and one day hoped to find. Do you think that they were mildly happy then? No, they would have been ecstatically happy and hardly able to contain themselves. Yes, that’s true.
How about me? What have you discovered about me? Am I the treasure that you have always been looking for and hoped that you would one day find? Yes, Lord you are. It is my joy to know, love, follow and serve you. It is my desire to live with and for you. I want to follow and obey you not out of a sense of obligation but because I love you. To know that you love me, what a treasure that is. To taste your kindness, goodness, mercy, forgiveness and love is beyond compare. To realize that you came into this world to save me is way beyond wonderful. You were completely sold out to rescue me from a life without God. You paid the ultimate price for me. Was I your treasure? Yes, you were. Well, you are my treasure and it is with great joy that I am fully devoted to loving, following and serving you!
Lord Jesus, you are my treasure and pearl of great price. It is with great joy that I give my life to loving, following and serving you. Thank you for being sold out for me. You paid the price so I could have a new life of following you. Amen
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