(Audio)
How much do we value the Kingdom?
The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
We've found the treasure. Do we know what it's worth? Do we act like it? Are we actually willing to give up whatever might be holding us back so as to attain it?
Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.
What we have found is a treasure. It is a pearl of great price. It is not just an obligation, nor even a nice subjective experience. It is something of immense and potentially world-transforming value. What we have to sell is by no means enough to afford the true value of this treasure. We can only count ourselves blessed to have found it.
This treasure transforms us when we possess it. It makes us radiant just as the skin of the face of Moses became radiant in the presence of the LORD. Moses enjoys his possession of the treasure and he teaches us how to allow the full worth and beauty of the treasure to be unleashed in us.
the skin of his face had become radiant
while he conversed with the LORD.
The LORD himself is our treasure and none other. The light that shone from him on the Mount of Transfiguration is the same light that makes us radiant. It is what other people ought to perceive as different in the lives of Christians. It is why Jesus is the light of the world (see John 8:12) but his followers are also the light of the world (see Matthew 5:14). Like Moses we will be transformed, and thus the world will be transformed, when we spend time conversing with God and gazing on him with our hearts in prayer.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (see Second Corinthians 3:18).
Perhaps we've been afraid of the brightness and left the treasure buried. It is not meant to stay buried or hidden. It is meant to shine as a light in the darkness. Here is its hidden worth!
Extol the LORD, our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for holy is the LORD, our God.
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