People have always been captivated by lost treasure. Buried treasure, sunken treasure… Many have gone to great lengths and much expense locating and diving to sunken ships thinking they may uncover some lost treasure there. Movies have often included treasure maps with a big red X where a pirate supposedly buried his ill-gotten bootie, and then died, leaving it for some lucky soul to unearth.

More recently, the idea of forgotten or unrecognized treasure has become popular. There is a TV show where people bid for the rights to the items in an abandoned storage unit, without knowing what it contains. And there is a show where people bring items found in a deceased relative’s attic to have them appraised as hopefully priceless artifacts.

We all love the idea of discovering something valuable, bringing sudden, unexpected wealth.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.” (Matthew‬ ‭13‬:‭44,‬ ‭CSB)‬‬

Jesus preached many times, in many ways, about the Kingdom of Heaven. He was trying to tell us that there is a valuable treasure available to anyone who asks Him. It’s more valuable than any pirate chest or forgotten Rembrandt. It doesn’t require following a cryptic treasure map, skirting cursed booby-traps.

The Kingdom of Heaven is readily available, but many people don’t recognize its true value. It is priceless and worth giving everything for. The Good News is that it’s actually free. All it requires is simply asking Jesus for His forgiveness. Jesus will take it from there.

Dear God, thank you for the priceless treasure of your Kingdom here on earth, available to me now because of your sacrifice for me. Help me to recognize its value every day and to treasure it more highly than anything else in my life.