How is it that two people can experience something very similar, but for one, it brings joy, and for another, it brings sadness? For example, you and your spouse are told the main course at a wedding you’ll be attending this weekend is bison filet mignon. You are salivating with joy at the news, but your wife, the vegetarian, not so much. Or perhaps, as another example, you read in the local paper that your dirt road will soon be paved, and you praise God for his unfailing love and goodness! Your neighbor, on the other hand, sadly says, “I’m really going to miss that dirt road; that’s why we moved to this county. We might need to start looking for a new home.” The same experience yielded two very different responses based on what each person placed the greater value upon.
A quick Google search informed me that Jesus spoke 126 times about the Kingdom of God (heaven) in the gospels. In various ways, he made it clear that those who would enter the Kingdom are those who would place a greater value on what God has to offer than anything their current life affords them. He said this in many ways throughout the gospels, including in Matthew 16:25, where he says, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” To be clear, this doesn’t mean a physical loss of life (although many over the centuries have been martyred for their faith) but rather a loss of who is in control of that life. Am I running the show or am I willing to yield to Jesus as my LORD and Savior?
Jesus illustrates this point through parables and in his conversations with real people. To describe what it looks like when people are willing to “lose their life” for his sake, he gives the parable in Matthew 13:44 where a man finds treasure hidden in a field, and after doing so, covers it up. Then, Jesus said, in his joy, he went away and sold all that he had so he could buy that field. He went “all in” because he knew that the treasure he had found was far greater than anything he currently possessed, and he was willing to give up everything he had in exchange. Jesus’ point is that God is looking for those who would likewise go “all in” because the incomparable value of following Jesus, becoming an adopted child of the King, is far greater than a life apart from Him.
However, we contrast the joy of the man in Matt 13:44 with the sadness experienced by the rich young man in Mark chapter 10. He came to Jesus asking what he could do to obtain eternal life. He had done the right things, kept the right commandments, and was likely a very respectable citizen. So, here comes the moment of truth. Jesus, in v. 21, “looked at him and loved him,” which is such an incredible picture, and then the Savior of mankind, the Son of the most high God, invited this young man to become one of his disciples. He said, “Go sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Wow! For some, that would have been the invitation of a thousand lifetimes. In this case, however, the man’s countenance fell, and he went away sad because he had great wealth. What that really means is that he considered his great wealth to be of greater value than being discipled by the Son of God in the flesh, joining the Kingdom, and cementing his place in eternity - with a portfolio of riches stored up in heaven. How sad for that young man!
Like the rich young man, when the things we value are out of place, idols can be formed, and decisions made based on those misplaced values can have disastrous consequences. Today’s culture is a painful reflection of many of those decisions. But there is an answer to all the madness. It starts by understanding that Jesus is the greatest treasure. He is the pearl of great price. He is the only one worthy of the kind of response that would compel someone to leave the boat of their father, their tax collector’s table, or their sinful lifestyle and follow Him. Whether we live on dirt roads or paved ones, we should all check our value systems and be sure Jesus holds the highest place. If we do, our worship will reflect it. Our lives will reflect it. The quality of our decisions and their outcomes will increase, and joy will overflow as we experience what Jesus said He came to give us in John 10:10, abundant life. Are you all in?