The thing you tripped over was put there on purpose and it has great value.
Matthew 13:44 shares this truth, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then, in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
Imagine you are out walking somewhere and you stumble on something protruding from the ground. You look to see what you tripped on, perhaps to move it so that someone else who comes after you won’t do the same. Upon closer inspection, you see that it is a small, wooden box. Out of curiosity, you open it and see a bunch of gold coins. When you count them, you see that their value is a million dollars! The land where you were walking was undeveloped, so you decide to find out how much the field is worth to see if you can afford to buy it because, in order to lay claim to and possess the treasure, you have to possess the land where it was hidden and found.
So you go to City Hall, tell them you’re interested in buying that lot, and you find out it sells for $10,000. The problem is you don’t have that kind of money. Who does? Maybe you don’t even make that much. You begin to see how valuable that field is just by virtue of what it contains, so you start thinking about how you can get the money together (the $10K) in order to obtain the treasure (the $1M). You look in the garage and figure you can probably sell your lawnmower for $200, but you need much, much more! Now, the things like your bed and furniture and TV that you used to think you couldn’t do without before suddenly seem like a small price to pay in order to gain that which has far greater value.
You sell all of those things and more but, including the lawnmower, you’ve only managed to scrape together about $3,000. You’re still far short of your goal. So, you start to reassess what you thought was necessary and very valuable to you and what you thought you couldn’t do without. After all, when you’re getting rid of something you think has worth to you it suddenly loses its worth when compared to something that is worth much, much, much more. You now have nothing left but your car. You think about how it’s reliable, it’s in good shape, it doesn’t have that many miles, it’s almost paid off and you need it to get back and forth to work. You need it to make money, pay your bills, get groceries and so much more. You can’t possibly part with that. It’s just not practical and it doesn’t seem to make sense.
But then you realize none of that matters because you do your research and find out that you can sell your car at fair market value for $7K. Maybe you think you can get more for it but, if you sell it, and combine that money with the cash you got for the mower, TV, computer, bed, furniture and everything else you had, you now have the $10K that you need to buy the land and, more importantly, to be able to lay claim to the $1 MILLION! Then you also realize that once you have the treasure, the far greater amount, you can, if needed, go back and buy the other things—better and newer than the ones you had before. But those things are not even important now because, in the process of buying the field which holds the treasure, you have discovered their real value—or LACK of value—those items really had. They PALE in comparison to what you stumbled over.
† JESUS IS TELLING US IN JUST ONE VERSE WITH JUST 34 WORDS WHAT REALLY MATTERS AND LASTS ETERNALLY, VERSUS WHAT DOESN’T REALLY MATTER AT ALL AND LASTS FOR ONLY A VERY SHORT TIME. †
When you now reexamine your life and reassess what you think is important to you and what you think you can’t live without, now that HE has allowed you to stumble over the rock (Jesus, the kingdom of God, forgiveness of sins, the salvation of your soul, eternal life) in the field which is your life, you should have NO problem eliminating from your life the things you need to get rid of, and stop focusing on, and spending too much time with (including people) in order to obtain the treasure of infinitely more value and worth!
In Matthew 19: 16-22 the Lord Jesus Christ is approached by who the Bible describes as a “rich, young, ruler.” That passage says this, “And behold, a man came up to Him, saying, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to inherit eternal life?’ And He said to him, ‘Why do you ask Me about what is good? There is only One who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.’ He said to Him, ‘Which ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The young man said to Him, ‘All these I have kept. What do I still lack?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If you would be perfect, GO SELL WHAT YOU POSSESS and give to the poor, and YOU WILL HAVE TREASURE IN HEAVEN; and, come, follow Me.’ When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
He, the young man, was TALKING WITH THE TREASURE in the field. He was IN THE PRESENCE OF THE MUCH GREATER VALUE, yet placed more worth in his bed, TV, phone, computer, clothes, furniture and car (the $10K). So, he didn’t sell them in order to buy the field to lay claim to the $1MILLION. How foolish and how short-sighted! And, as a result, the Word of God says “he went away SORROWFUL.”
The Bible also refers to the Savior of the world and of your personal world as “a stumbling block.” He is the treasure in the field that, at some point, you will trip over. Romans 9:33 says, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a Stone of Stumbling, and a Rock of Offense; and whoever believes (TRUSTS) in Him will not be put to shame.” You can personalize it like this, “Behold, I am laying in this field which is your life a stumbling block of great worth and value, but to you it will seem offensive because it is convicting to you (allows you to see and feel guilty over your sin) and seems to you to stand in the way of what you think holds value and importance; but if you find your treasure in HIM by eliminating from your life the things which are of immensely less worth, buy the field with your faith, lay hold of the treasure you have stumbled upon of immensely greater worth by repenting of your sins and making HIM Lord of your life, you will not be ashamed of the Gospel which has saved your soul and washed away your sins because “it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (trusts in Him).”
Sell what you have, buy the field, take hold of the treasure. His name is JESUS CHRIST!
God bless you.
Christ View Versus World View 