[Thursday's Devotional] - Hidden Treasure

With the present economic climate there is a great temptation to turn our cash into valuables and bury them in some field, just so they will be safe from the recession. It's certainly been done many times in history and the hunt for hidden treasure is still a great enticement for people. Jesus mentions such treasure several times in his parables as a way of representing the discovery of the Kingdom.

But it is easy for us not to see the treasure that is hidden. In Jeremiah's time the Jews not only didn't see God's treasure, they didn't see his field either. They actually trampled on God's field and turned it into a desolate wasteland (Jeremiah 12:10)

Jeremiah had an inkling that God intended a treasure to be hidden in the fields in Israel – the treasure that God's covenant would one day be rediscovered by the Jews. So later in his book, (Jeremiah 32) Jeremiah buys a field – then valueless because it lay in enemy hands – but he does it as a promise that one day the people will come back into the land and come back to God.

Even so Paul wants us to dig into the field of hidden treasures that are in Christ. He wants us to know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Col 2:2 & 3

In his letter Paul explores who the Christ is: the one for whom this world was created. We were created for him: to be his children: to be with him where he is. Christ reconciled this broken world to himself. We messed up, he cleaned up, forgave us, dealt with the damage and defeated evil. This is supernatural stuff – but it is our stuff if we are his children and it is this treasure we explore whenever we dig into the scriptures, whenever we come to Jesus in prayer, whenever we commend others to him when we pray of their behalf.

We have a lot to worry about economically at the moment – but the treasure we have in our hearts is of eternal significance and Jesus strongly suggests we seek that first and not to have the same concern for the things of this earth.


Alan Cartwright

Read the Bible in a year: Psalm 118:1-16, Jeremiah 11:18-13:27, Colossians 2:6-23