This post is Day 16 in a series of studies about “Joy”. I strongly suggest you begin with the introduction to this study, please click here to read it.

Feel free to comment below with your own thoughts about each verse and how you will be acting on each thought. Also, if you haven’t yet signed up to receive the notifications of new studies, you can do that today. (The form is at the bottom of the page).

Joy – Day 16

Once we have tasted something of The Kingdom of God, the love and power that are its main components, then we naturally want to know more about it. Our experiences of the Heavenly Kingdom should make each of us want to experience more of what The Lord has for us.

Matthew 13:44

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

The Thought

We can understand this man’s enthusiasm after finding treasure, to think the whole field is full of treasure and go and buy the field. It would not be so easy in today’s society full of rules that forbid that sort of action.

In the context of this whole chapter the parable makes more sense. Jesus is trying every way He can to explain what exactly the Kingdom of Heaven is all about. 10 times in the gospel of Matthew (in the version I read regularly) the expression the kingdom of heaven is used. And six of those examples are in this chapter of Matthew 13!

Once we have tasted something of God’s Kingdom, of the love and power that are its main components, then we naturally want to know more about it.

Our experiences of the Heavenly Kingdom should make each of us want to experience more of what The Lord has for us, both in this life and the next. As believers our reactions are different, according to our personality. The man who found treasure in the field thought that treasure was worth selling everything he owned, in order to buy the field. The woman who found her lost coin wanted to share that news with her friends.

Action

Think as you go through your day about what you know about God’s kingdom. How much do you value being a part of it?

How would you describe it? Like the sower (Matthew 13:24)? The mustard seed (Matthew 13:31)? Like yeast (Matthew 13:33)? The hidden treasure (Matthew 13:44)? Like the merchant (Matthew 13:45)? Or the net (Matthew 13:47)?

For a full list of online studies available on this site, please click here.

If there is a subject you would like to see on this site, please use the comment section below or drop us an email (there’s a link at the very top of the page). We can’t promise to cover them all, and our studies are usually prepared a month or two in advance, so please be patient.

For a full list of physical resources available through this site, please click here.