PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 13:44-46
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“In his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” (Matthew 13:44)
The message of Jesus is, or ought to be, something that triggers joy.
My sense is that many people do not experience this dramatic joy when they hear it.
Maybe we are so worldly and self-content that the kingdom message is undesirable.
Or maybe the message has been so distorted it is no longer the joy-inducing message.
When Jesus spoke of God’s kingdom, He meant God’s promised ‘made right’ world.
When everything would be ‘very good’ again, and all people blessed (not just some).
The people that responded with joy were the ones who were on the bottom of life.
Jesus’s message promised them a new life, a new way of living and experiencing life.
Jesus assured them they were loved, forgiven, accepted and restored as God’s children.
The people who didn’t rejoice in His message were the self-content, the smug and proud.
The message today often assures the self-content without the need to change.
Jesus says His message will inspire a radical response of selling everything for it.
If His message doesn’t inspire life-changing joy, I need to look at my heart condition.
If His message doesn’t inspire life-changing joy, I need to rethink the message.
PRAYER
Lord, I have grown so familiar with ‘the message of Jesus’ that it doesn’t ignite radical joy in me. Help me to rethink the kingdom message, and my own heart, so that I can find this joy again!
I am reminded of the conviction I need to take hold of the treasure you’ve given me. Help me give away all I have because it doesn’t hold a candle to the treasure You have provided me.
Maybe time or busyness has a way of putting a ‘wet blanket’ on the excitement and thrill when I realized that Jesus was real and alive and caring about me – this treasure that I have in my cracked jar of clay! Emotionally, I’ve got to go back and revel again in His unbelievable grace for me. Like the person finding a treasure that he/she discovered and realized its immense value – to the point of giving up all else! What is of value in our life that lasts? I know – it is knowing Jesus and becoming more like Him everyday! That is the treasure that is worth giving up everything for! That treasure drives me and gives me the most joy and peace! Without it I become anxiety driven.
Lord, may Your kingdom come and may many discover its treasure and value.