Monday, May 19, 2008

A Pearl of Great Price



Matthew 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

Matthew 13:45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

Matthew 13:51 Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things?
They say unto him, Yea, Lord.

I can remember a long time ago - when I was still young and immature, I loved playing video games. Actually, I'm still immature and still love playing video games. :) However, I specifically remember playing games only to get 'stuck' on a very hard part that I simply couldn't get past, and so for a long time, the game was useless to me. I was consumed with thinking about the game, and how to get past the difficult part. I would fall asleep each night thinking about the game, spend my time in class thinking about the game, sit in church thinking about the game..... well, you get the picture. I was consumed with the game. It wasn't until I discovered that I could go to the mall and visit the local electronics software game shop and buy (you guessed it) a hint book. My troubles were solved. I plopped fifteen bucks down for the answers to my problem. I could not wait to get home from the mall and fire up the computer and spend the next several hours easily going through the rest of the game. I had the answers to all the games puzzles, and this was real game play.

My point? Consuming addiction has and can get the best of me at times. But what I'm thinking about is this: How can I get totally consumed with all the right things? How and where can I find something so wonderful that I lay awake at night thinking about it? Where can I get that special something that occupies my mind, and that will not allow anything else to creep in and distract me? What is it that should consume me most of all, that I'm willing to work for, to save up for, and to sacrifice for - so that I can have it? Not only that, but what do I do with it once I have it? (that's a whole 'nother subject that I can talk about some other time) :)

Jesus told His disciples what it was that should be very important to us - the kingdom of heaven. At that time, during Jesus' earthly ministry, Jesus preached that "the kingdom of heaven was at hand". ( Matthew 10:7 ) People were expecting something, they were 'hungy' for change, the time was right for Jesus to come and preach His kingdom message to the masses. And, once people heard Jesus' words about it, some left all to obtain it. Some left their families, their jobs, their location to follow Jesus. Some saw Jesus for who He really was, and praised God that they were there - at just the right time to be witness of our Emmanuel. Think about what all people gave up. Look what the apostle Paul says that he at one time had, but gave it all up:

Philippians 3:4 though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.

What a great example of a 'Christian' to leave everything, and live the rest of His life for Christ. Whatever situation I am in, I need to remember and think about my daily sacrifice and if it measures up to the examples found in His word. Is His kingdom so important to me that I'm willing to sacrifice my time? Whatever God has blessed me with; my family, my job, the money he blesses me with through my job, and most importantly my time, I need to be willing to give Him the glory for His blessings, and I need to look at it as His, and not mine. And I need to learn how he wants me to use His 'stuff'. More than that, I simply need to be willing to place more importance on his Kingdom, than I do on my video games. I'm ashamed to say that I spent about six hours the other day on a silly game - wasting my time when I could'a been doing something for His kingdom. There's probably an inumerable list of things I could have been doing but instead it was all about me, myself, and I.
Am I listening to what God is saying in His Word?

2 comments:

  1. Paul, great points about seeking God's Kingdom. We all are encouraged to remember that we are part of His Kingdom and should use our resources in building it in the short amount of time we have here in this world. Good stuff Bro....Alex

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  2. Good points here Paul, good stuff to live by and definitely I am with you with this one. Do you remember the Legend of Zelda? Dude, killer game.

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