“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.” (Matthew 13:44, NLT)
Usually, this verse is used to illustrate what we do when we find the treasure of our walk with God, that it is the most special thing we can have, and we sell everything we have to walk with God. Today I want to use it in a different manner. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;” (2 Corinthians 4:7).
There is a big difference between the way you see yourself and the way that God and others see you. Most of the times we see the field, and it can be rocky and dry, or nice and beautiful. It can have a house or can have wrecked cars and memories of failures, but God still sees the treasure. A walk with God is not so much about changing, but a lot more about becoming, about growing, and maturing into what we already are in the eyes of the Father. “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, And He gave gifts to men” (Ephesians 4:7–8).
Have you ever tried to change yourself? How did that work? If God created each one of us and gave us gifts and His Spirit, why should we try to change that? Why don’t we try to discover who we are in His mind? Instead of trying to change into what we think we should be, we should ask: How do You see me? We cannot change what we did not create. We see the field, God sees the treasure! “Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us?” (James 4:5)
God is not trying to make you into something you are not. He’s trying to lead you to become the real you He already sees. Let God reveal to you the treasure that He sees in you. You may only see the field with rocks, thorns, and weeds. He sees something that is from Him, His Spirit. “For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.” (1 Timothy 2:5–6, NLT)
“Faith is not something that we do that moves us from the unforgiven column to the forgiven column. That was done in Jesus. Faith is not something we do that gets us reconciled, justified, included, adopted, redeemed, saved. Jesus Christ has already done all of that. The fundamental character of Christian faith is that of discovery. Faith, as Luther said somewhere, is like the eye. It does not create what it sees; it sees what is there.”[1]
Luke 7:36-50
Colossians 1:25–29
[1] Kruger, C. Baxter. The Great Dance: The Christian Vision Revisited (p. 52). Perichoresis Press. Kindle Edition.
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