Buy the whole stinkin' field

​In his message Sunday, Steven Furtick shared the parable found in the 13th chapter of Matthew. And in the parable Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a 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."

I've read and heard that parable many times. But maybe I've never been as challenged by it as I was this most recent time.

I was challenged because I could imagine walking through a big wide-open field here in Virginia. And in that field, finding a treasure. Some unexpected but life-changing treasure. And in the excitement of that find - in dreaming of all the possibilities of my future because of that treasure and all that comes with it - I sold everything I owned and bought the whole stinkin' field.

I bought it because I wanted access to that treasure every second of every day. I bought it because I wanted the chance to live my life in the presence of that treasure at all times.

The thing is, I HAVE discovered what a treasure Jesus is. I know with my mind - the worth of that treasure is beyond the worth of all the treasures in my life combined. It's not even a close comparison.

Yet, if I'm being honest, I've never been so overwhelmed by the joy of that treasure that I've wanted to sell everything I own to buy the whole field where that treasure is buried.

No, the truth is, many days I'm content that I know the owners of the field and I'm just thankful that they liet me visit the treasure whenever I want.

I wonder what kind of joy I'm missing out on when my heart isn't as overwhelmed by that treasure as my mind often is. Because it's our hearts that buy a field like that, not our minds.

Our minds will never be able to calculate the price of that field as a sane investment. Our minds will never let us believe we could live without all that we hold on to instead of buying that field - the things we think bring us joy while true joy is buried in the field we're fine with visiting from time to time.

So often we try to create heaven on earth. And so often we do that with the things we buy, or the things we work tirelessly to buy later in life.

The Lord's prayer says, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

I think in this parable, Jesus is trying to get my attention - and maybe someone else's. He's saying the kingdom of heaven doesn't have to be future joy; it can be right now joy.

But to experience that joy, I have to sell the fields I currently own, I have to quit dreaming of the fields I long to own, I have to quit visiting the field where I say my most meaningful treasure in life is buried, and I have to buy that field like my heart feels what my mind believes.

So many times when I think of the sacrifices it takes to truly feel Jesus as a treasure in my life, I find myself wondering how I could ever feel peace and joy in the face of those sacrifices.

In hearing this parable this time, I hear Jesus asking a challenging question: how much peace and joy have you ever truly found in any of those things? How much peace and joy have you ever truly found in the fields you've bought - or in the fields you're chasing?

The kingdom of heaven is like a 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.

When peace and joy escape me, maybe the answer isn't to buy a new field. Maybe the answer is to buy THE field. The field where my life's truest and most meaningful treasure is buried.