Mathew 13: 44 'The kingdom of heaven is like
treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he
goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.'
Over the years we may have heard many a
sermon about the Kingdom of heaven. Each one of us may even have an image about
the Kingdom of heaven imprinted in our mind.
But today morning when I read this verse
for some reason I could look at it with fresh new eyes and see the truth, again
being hidden in plain sight so to speak.
Up until today this verse only meant to me
that the kingdom of heaven is a very valuable possession. Nothing else came
through. But when read with the eyes of knowledge the hidden nugget of truth
began to shine through.
The key phrase in this verse is 'he goes
and sells all that he has and buys that field.'
Our Lord is actually telling us the HOW.
How to acquire the Kingdom of heaven.
We have been taught that the kingdom of
heaven is righteousness joy and peace in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). It is the
state where all three of these have supplanted every selfish thought within us.
But having righteousness, peace and joy in the HolySpirit is no mean task,
How then?
Imagine that you are driving your car. As
we drive along our hands are always on the steering wheel. We know and believe
that it is our hands that are guiding the direction of the car. As long as we
are in control of the steering wheel we can determine its direction.
Our life is just like that. As long as we
exercise absolute control over our life, we and we alone can determine its
direction. We determine the solutions, we determine the pit stops, we determine
everything about our lives as well as those for whom we are responsible for.
Most importantly we determine our
priorities and lifes direction. Much like the man in the parable.
But, there was one thing he differed from
us. When he found this treasure he went and sold 'EVERYTHING' he owned in order
to acquire the field with the treasure.
Our Lord is calling us to do the very same
thing. Our lord knows that as long as we feel that we are in total control of
our lives, he cannot do anything. As long as our hands are firmly on the
steering wheel of life he cannot help us drive. The Lord is an eternal
gentleman. He comes in only as we let go. He is not known to wrest power and
authority from our lives. He is known to wait patiently for you to allow him
space in your life. In order to acquire the Kingdom of God it is necessary to sell everything else. As
long as all the desires of this world remains within us we cannot acquire the
kingdom of heaven. As long as our heart is set on our possessions and family
members there is no more room.
Only when our heart learns to put aside all
kinds of material desires and worldly cravings can we even begin to understand
what the kingdom of God is. We can 'DO' a lot of things for the Lord. And even
feel good about the amount of 'WORKS' being performed. But that in no ways
means that the Kingdom of heaven is within you.
In order to possess the Kingdom of heaven there is only ONE way.
First you need to dispose off the following
1. Your identity associated with what you
possess.
2. Your identity associated with what
others think about you.
3. Your identity associated with your
profession and all 'good works' that you do.
Next you need to utterly surrender your
human will to the will of God. This is akin to letting go of the steering wheel
in order to allow Jesus to drive your car. Do you remember those situations where
had you tried everything you could think of but got no results and finally
threw your hands up and asked for Gods help? And then somehow, miraculously the
problem or situation got resolved. Have you thought about how much easier life
would have been if we had totally surrendered the issue to God in the first
place itself? Human nature is such that we rarely let go.
If you look back to history the first sin
in the world was of Adam and Eve exercising their will in contradiction to the
will of God.
If you look back to the story of our
salvation you will also see that it began with Mary and Joseph saying yes to
the will of God in possible contradiction to their human wisdom and culminated
with Jesus bowing to allow the will of the Father to supersede his own will. In
all three instances the greatest virtue exercised is utter humility.
True humility always precedes true
surrender. The power of complete surrender to God is far greater than any other power. When we
surrender our will to the will of God, heaven rejoices and grace comes down into our
lives. With grace comes the Holy Spirit and with the Holy spirit comes the
fruits of the Holy Spirit. And thus is established the Kingdom of heaven in a
human soul.
Link to What is the Kingdom of God
