Main verse: Matthew 13:44-45

Good morning!

            When Jesus walked the earth, he spoke clearly about righteousness, God’s commands, and precepts all worked together to give a composite view God’s Kingdom. Then, Jesus asked the question, “What is the Kingdom of Heaven like?” This was a loaded question and something that caught every ear around because, something Jesus never talked about except for veiled references. The first reference was the man who found a treasure in a field and the other, the prized pearl. The man who found the treasure reburied it and then sold all that he had and bought the field. The merchant who found the prized pearl sold all that he had and bought it.

My questions for you today are, “Why buy the field instead of pocketing the treasure,” why rebury the treasure,” “What is ‘everything’ the men owned,” and “What does the treasure and field have to do with the Kingdom of Heaven?” Each of us has a field in our lives that we are responsible for and it is the only thing we own and that is our heart/soul. That treasure was the word that God hid in our heart (Ecclesiastes 3:9-14). When we come to Jesus Christ, we admit our need for Him in our lives (Hebrews 11:5-6). The thing we need to get through our thick heads is that the Kingdom of God is not a place, it is a Spirit and where the Spirit is, there is life (Luke 17:20-21). When we employ God’s commands in our hearts, everything we do will be a reflection of God’s sovereignty over our life (Psalm 119:9-16, Proverbs 3:1-5).

So, what is the Kingdom of God like? It is life from death, hope from hopelessness, and joy from despair. When Jesus was born, Rome ruled the land of Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed the hopes of the people. Jesus’ public ministry was a light in a dark place because, he not only spoke about the power of God’s Kingdom but, he lived and walked in it by healing people, restoring the sight, releasing the prisoners (Luke 7:18-23). The night Jesus died on the cross, his public ministry ended which was the end of a chapter but not the end of the story (Revelations 22:12-13). Today, God’s Spirit is alive in the hearts of the believer. My encouragement for you today is, become part of the eternal story of God’s Spirit in the hearts and actions of human beings.

I.H.S.

MK