Treasure

If I were a pirate, I would do what so many others have done. I would look for someone else's treasure, rob them of it, and appropriate it for myself. Pirates prey on others, and they go to great lengths to steal what they want. A pirate is never content with the booty they accumulate, because the greedy call from More echoes in their ears. More shouts, "I'm over here, come get me." 

Collective conscience

This morning I am contemplating the treasure that has been buried and unearthed with each generation and in every millennium. A treasure that is incalculable: pirates dare not touch, it would burn their hands and sear their collective conscience. When they discover this treasure, they quickly attempt to cover it once again, to bury it in the hopes that it will not resurrect and come and find them.

As I consider this treasure, I realize why it is so hard to find, and why so many prefer to leave off from searching for it. Wanting it and looking high and low for it, is exhaustive work. But it is also the greatest occupation to be engaged in. It encapsulates a lifetime of investing, and each moment spent is worth its' weight in gold. 

How do we measure time, dear one? We must consider how we spend it to discern its' value. 

The treasure 

When I think about Jesus Christ, His splendour, beauty, and other worldliness, I cannot help but be transported, lifted out of the mire and muck that the pirates have attempted to throw on the treasure known as the Truth. In His perfection, we see the personification of ideals, in the living breathing God/Man:

He is mercy

He is mild

He is charity and chastity

He is peace and joy

He is living, breathing wisdom, piety and understanding

In His mighty strength, He is the defender of Truth and the sanctity of His Father's house. With condemnation, He berates the infidels and hypocrites that dare to challenge Truth with lies that lead many to the door of death minus the presence of the living God. 

I realize why we must dig for Truth treasure, why it is vitally important to seek and find in order to discover the greatest gift. Our faith is a hard won battle, dear reader, and without the digging and getting dirty too, superficiality can feel rewarding for a time:

The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns spun up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 

Who hath ears to hear, let him hear (Matthew 1-9)

It is declared in the Bible that the word of God will go to all corners of the earth. That man will bring to man the Good News, sowing seeds, as it were. We have witnessed that some of the seed:

• fell on ground without dirt, and was devoured by fowl
• some fell on stony places, without much earth, sprung up, and because it could not dig deeply into the earth to grow a root system to draw necessary moisture, the sun scorched it and it withered away
• some fell where thorns sprouted up and choked them
• and some fell into good ground, and bore fruit

Jesus invites His listeners to take notice. Perhaps we can take a moment now to consider ourselves as the seed? 

• Where have you fallen, dear one? 
• Are your roots digging deeply into this Truth treasury? 
• Are you being fed and watered by the word of God so that you can be fruitful, as one of His servants? 
• Or have you fallen, as the masses have, onto the earth's surface, only to be eaten up, scorched, or choked out? 

And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speaketh thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them (Matthew 10:15)

The ground without soil

The rocky places

The thorny spots that do not tolerate other plants

Prickly life

This is the way of the world. The superficiality of sprouting for this day, without a care for tomorrow. The planting of self between a rock and a hard place, by living according to pirates wiley ways, rather than trusting in God's provision. The good seed sprouting up amongst the thorns, and being choked by them because thistles are spiked, and they fight to defend their territory by making sure they take up the space they need to survive in this one prickly life they live. 

Dear reader, we are living this parable:

For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them (Matthew 10:15)

Today, I will seek Truth, as though my life depends upon Him. Today, I will consider the Sovereign, and see that the treasure of Jesus Christ and all that is of Him, is worth digging deeply for. Today, I pray, that my roots are fed by Living Water.

I pray the same for you.