Precious Treasure and Fine Pearls

In Search of the Kingdom of Heaven

The word of God tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a very precious treasure hidden in a field. And when a man finds it, he hides it again then he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it (Matthew 13: 44-46).

Truly finding the Kingdom of God causes one to get rid of every other belief system. That’s how precious the Kingdom is, when a person truly finds it, they don’t want anything else. They realize that there is nothing that can compare. If there is anything that we hold on to that’s not Kingdom, then we have to question ourselves. Not whether or not we’ve found it, but do we really want the Kingdom?

We can’t compromise the Kingdom of God, we can compromise our belief systems, religion, Christianity, church, and everything else. But not His Kingdom. God in His infinite wisdom knows that the human heart has to be ready for the message of His Kingdom.

A Farmer’s Story

One day a Farmer went to plant his seeds in various places and when he was planting, some seeds the birds ate, some seeds the sun scorched, and some seeds were taken over by weeds. But some seeds fell on good ground and produced a great harvest. This is how the Message of the Kingdom is in our life. When our hearts aren’t fully convinced, it doesn’t take root in us, so the enemy comes and steals it away. But when our hearts are right, it takes root and produces the fruit God intended. When Jesus taught this to the masses, He would always tell it in stories. Why? Even the disciples did not know why.

The disciples came up and asked, “Why do you tell stories?” He replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s Kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state, they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. (Matthew 13:18-23) 

He did it because they didn’t understand and He still nudges our hearts today, getting us ready to fully understand His Kingdom.

Remade and Restored

God will reduce us to nothing so that He can become everything to us. He is (Abba) our source, sustainer. Nothing else or no one else including ourselves can fill this function in our lives. Yes, we can do things in our own ability but that isn’t sustainable and only last temporarily. It is God’s pleasure to give us the Kingdom when we decide to forsake all else and truly enter Kingdom citizenship. The Kingdom of God is a heavenly country with rights and promises of a King that has been passed on to His people.

It’s taken me almost 55 years to realize that I had an illegitimate mindset. A mindset that was contrary to Kingdom citizenship. I was a Christian but not a Kingdom citizen, I was shrouded in the Christian religion but not in the truth of God’s Kingdom. Not understanding His original purpose and intent for mankind.

“Lord, I thank you for shifting my mindset to the Kingdom“. Now I can say that I’m woke, not culturally or worldly but truly awakened to the gift of righteousness that produces faith, faith that was given by grace, grace that produces holiness, and holiness that leads to eternal life. God’s original purpose for us has always been His Kingdom mandate, never a religion.

Purpose, Intent and Reasons

The goal and assignment of Kingdom Citizens is to Rediscover, Understand, Learn, Apply, and Live the laws of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said that we should seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. His original purpose was for us to have dominion over the (earth not people) and to impact the world with the nature, characteristics and influence of heaven. God rewrites the text of our lives when we open the book of our hearts to His eyes. He gives us the gift of His righteousness and the freedom of grace to align ourselves with His laws.

Even creation understands its purpose and testifies to the goodness of God at all times. Creation waits eagerly for the children of God to be restored to our original purpose. There is no us without Him, when He wakes us up each morning, it’s not for us it’s for Him, for Him to carry out His purpose and plans, not just for our lives but for His Kingdom. Proverbs 19:21 says “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails“.

Know Them by Their Fruit

The word of God says that you know a tree by its fruit. What does that mean? It means that we can’t say one thing with our mouths and our life displays something opposite of what we say. Not only do people see our lives but so does God. He sees the hidden parts of our lives.

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold-I am about to spit you out. (Revelation 3:15-16)

We should want God more than anything He has for us. We should want the Source more than the resource, the Provider more than the provision, and the Creator more than creation. Being free from the spirit of ownership makes you realize that you never own anything. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, everything and everyone in it belongs to Him. We were made by Him for Him.

The Young Man Who Walked Away

In (Matthew 19:16-22) a young rich man asked Jesus how he could obtain eternal life. Jesus told him to keep the commandments. He said that he had been doing that already. Then Jesus told him to sell all that he had and give it to the poor so that his treasure would then be in heaven and to follow him. The young man was sad at what he had heard from Jesus because he had great wealth, so he walked away from the Lord.

Even though these particular scriptures are referring to wealth and riches, how many other areas of our lives do we want to hold onto so bad that we compromise obedience? We walk away from Christ more than we are willing to admit.

We don’t have to backslide to walk away from Him. Each compromise, each justification, each time we ignore the Holy Spirit. Every “This is my life, and I can live it how I want to”. If we are honest with ourselves then we already know this of course but how long will we continue to walk away?

The Reality of Choice

There’s a reality and law of choice that exists whether we choose to face it or not. There’s a choice made even without choosing. (Luke 21:34-36) warns us to guard our hearts against being weighed down essentially by our actions. Many times, we choose the things that we are most consumed with, which is completely contrary to what God tells us. Then there are those times when we think that if we don’t make a choice, we have a gray area with God. We say stuff like “God knows my heart, He understands”.

Oh yes, He does know our hearts and that’s why He warns us to not trust it. He doesn’t want us to trust it at all. He knows that our belief systems are based on the things of the world.

Who or what, is the object and source of your belief system? Where is your affection? Do you believe in yourself more than you believe in the Lord? Jesus said that He is the Light of the world and when we follow Him, we don’t stumble in darkness.

• Darkness = Hebrew word Ignorance
• Light = Hebrew word Knowledge

Please understand that darkness (Ignorance) is being used to distract us from light (Knowledge). Sin (Rebellion) doesn’t destroy us, ignorance (Darkness) does. Sin keeps us ignorant (In darkness) of truth and therefore one lacks knowledge (Light). Then destruction comes because knowledge (Light) is rejected.

In Closing

God wants to restore us to our original position. When He created everything else, He spoke to the thing that produced it, the dirt, the water, the firmament. However, when He created us, He spoke to Himself and brought us forth. We are His nature and essence, please comprehend the magnitude of who we are but most importantly who He is.

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*Please leave a comment below and share your thoughts on your search for the Kingdom.