The fifth teaching parable of the kingdom of God that Jesus gave is the parable of the hidden treasure. This parable is found in Matthew 13:44.

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.

Interpretation

On a surface level, it looks like the man who found the hidden treasure was selfish and didn’t want anyone else to find it. However, this isn’t what this text means. The description of what the man did is used to highlight how precious this treasure was, what it meant to him and what he was willing to do in order not to lose it.

We don’t leave our expensive jewelries on the floor in our living rooms. We hide them away, ensuring they are out of sight and out of reach of:

• those who don’t know the value
• those who will want to steal them from us.

The kingdom of heaven is more valuable than anything we can have. It is worth giving up everything for. It isn’t clear in the above text if the man found the hidden treasure by accident or whether he was seeking to find the treasure. And to be honest, that doesn’t matter. What matters is the value of what was found.

Our journey to Christ all looks differently. Some people came to Christ after experiencing something very dramatic. Some have no Saul-like story to tell about their turning point moment. Regardless of how and when we came to Him, we all share in the view that it has been the best decision we have ever made.

Note how this priceless treasure costed the man everything. Yet, he was excited about losing everything he had for this one. This reminds me of what Paul said in Philippians 3:7-8 as he shared about the priceless value of knowing Christ.

I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.  Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ. Philippians 3:7-8

Although the transaction cost the man everything, he paid nothing for the priceless treasure itself. It came free, with the field.

It’s very important we understand the value of the kingdom of heaven, otherwise we won’t be willing to sacrifice anything for it. It is one thing to accept the gift of God’s kingdom. It is another thing to protect the gift. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us that the devil is going about seeking whom he may devour. He is stealing, killing and destroying. These are the things he does. The scripture tells us to watch out. Be on guard.

The devil is always trying to distract us so we can forget about our treasure and start chasing what he has to offer. His aim is for us to ditch our treasure and start chasing shadows. As such we need to learn how to protect our gift.

Contrary to some messages we hear today, Jesus Christ made it very clear in this parable, that even though the gift is free, we will lose certain things for the sake of it.

We will lose relationships, wealth, jobs, families and the list goes on. There are many missionaries who have lost everything they have as a result of them choosing Christ. Some people’s family members are killed as a result. Some even lose their lives. Despite all of these things that sounds like tragedies, heaven is so worth it. Nothing is more precious that the kingdom of heaven; which God has given to us as a gift.

 

–Efua Uke is a United Kingdom-based mentor, blogger, and contributor to Ambo TV. This article originally appeared on her website Grace Over Pain.