The Treasure And The Pearl

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

Imagine you are in the market for a new car, so you go to a dealership and test drive one you like. While you are driving around the block, you happen to open the glove compartment. Inside you are surprised to see $50,000 in cash. What would you do in that situation? Would you tell the manager what you have found in the glove compartment? Or would you say nothing to the manager, write a check for the car, and consider that $50,000 yours?

Here is another situation. Let’s say that you are a baseball card collector. You go into a baseball card shop, and you see a card you have been wanting for years: a 1952 Topps card with Mickey Mantle on the front. It is worth at least $20,000. But to your surprise, you see that the card is marked for only $1,000. Obviously, the card shop owner has made a mistake. Would you tell the card shop owner he had mispriced the card? Would you decide that even though the card was worth $20,000, you really should not even spend $1,000 on it? Or would you write a check for that card, without telling the card shop owner he had made the mistake, and consider the profit yours?

Let me ask you a slightly different question: What do you think Jesus would tell you to do in each of those situations?

You might say, “Well, Jesus would say to tell the automobile dealer about the $50,000 in the glove compartment and to tell the card shop owner that he had made a mistake. You should never take advantage of anybody in a situation like that.” That is the Sunday school answer, but that is not what Jesus would tell you. In fact, as we are going to discover this week, Jesus’s answer would surprise most people. Jesus said when you find something of value, you ought to do everything in your power to purchase that item and consider it your own.

If you have a hard time believing that Jesus would say such a thing, I want you to consider the parables in Matthew 13:44-46. These two parables are brief but important, and their theme is very simple: when you find something of value, you ought to pay whatever price is necessary to obtain it.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “The Treasure And The Pearl” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2005.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org