Making It Big!

MAKING IT BIG!

“The kingdom of God 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.”  Some lucky stiff goes walking through a field and stumbles upon a hidden treasure.  He didn’t wake up that morning, look in the mirror and say to himself: “Today, I’ve decided to find some hidden treasure!”  This is a total shock!  It is his lucky day!  So, before the owner of the field finds out – or anyone else, for that matter – He hides the treasure and joyfully sells everything and buys the entire field.  He makes it BIG!

Most of us live our lives with two dreams.  The first dream is that dream of “making it big,” of being successful and “having it all.”  This first dream often causes us to work and sweat and sacrifice.  We dedicate ourselves to the task.  We pull ourselves up by the bootstraps.  We work hard. We take control of our lives in pursuit of this dream.  And sometimes, it can even be the case that most everything we do, in one way or another, serves and pursues this dream.  And when the dream is realized – especially through a “rags to riches” story, it is all the sweeter!

But there is another dream.  This second dream is a bit more embarrassing to admit, but it is there all the same.  It is the dream that someday “my ship will come in.” That is how I’ll make it big.  It is a secret hope or wish that someday, in total surprise, as a complete shock and through nothing I attempted or accomplish, I get lucky.  Perhaps an unknown rich uncle will die and leave me a million bucks.  Maybe Publishers Clearing House will knock on my door.  Maybe I will win the lottery.

What is surprising and confusing and rather astonishing is that of these two dreams, the kingdom of God is more like the second.  How can this be?!  Come on Sunday and find out!

But for now, let it be said that God has a dream for us.  It is a promise that sounds like this:  “We are afflicted, BUT NOT CRUSHED.  We are perplexed, BUT NOT DRIVEN TO DESPAIR.  We are persecuted, BUT NOT FORSAKEN.  We are struck down, BUT NOT DESTROYED, carrying Jesus in our bodies.”  That is a treasure!  That is a dream with which we can live and die.