“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.”

Matthew 13:45-46 (ESV)

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

Matthew 6:33 (NLT)

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about these three verses this weekend. There’s a lot of good in my life. God has blessed me with a great job, an amazing family, the best friends I could imagine, and much more. But, in the midst of all this blessing, I’ve found restlessness stirring up in my soul—a dissatisfaction with my life and where I am in it. As I’ve tried to work through it and figure out why; I’ve come to some conclusions.

I think that when God blesses, it’s easy to get excited about the blessings and to feel a sense of arrival at what He’s given. That is to say, it’s easy to stop moving forward and think I’ve attained something when God blesses. The reality, though, is that God blesses because He is good, but the blessings He gives are never an end in themselves. They always are meant to point us to Him more fully by helping us see His goodness and grace.

As I mentioned, in my soul, there has been restlessness. I have been very dissatisfied even though I have so much. As I’ve been praying and thinking about why this is, God has really brought to my attention the above three passages. This is what I’ve come to realize: I have found a great treasure in Jesus Christ! By His deliberate choice to die to pay the penalty for my sin, I have been freed from the eternal damnation that my sin deserves. In the freedom given me, I have been liberated to live life now in total peace. That peace and joy, though, ought not to make me passive, but rather it ought to compel me strongly to live my life to please the One who has saved me.

My restlessness, I am convinced, has come from my knowing that my life ought to be spent as a sacrifice of gratitude to my Savior and desiring it to be as such, but still living in laziness. Recognizing this has reenergized me to want to give my entire life to Jesus.

Going back to the verses above, if I really believe that what Jesus did for me is as good as it is, then advancing the Kingdom of God ought to be my very top priority. Giving everything I am and everything I have is not extreme, but it’s is only right and reasonable. Finally, the beauty of giving everything, as noted in the last verse above, is that I can completely trust my God to provide for all of my needs along the way.

I am aboundingly thankful to God for His blessings, but I want them to compel me to love Him and seek Him and obey Him more and not let them slow me down. My prayer is that God would help me to hold everything loosely and always be ready to drop anything and everything for a more pure pursuit of Him.

Something I’ve thought about a bit recently is just how I want to live my life so that I don’t have regrets. This thought has been triggered because there have been a few times with people recently, where after we’re done talking, I really begin to question whether I should have said more.

I am coming to believe that I, as someone who wants to be faithful to my LORD, must make a decision to always speak the truth, regardless of the circumstances. I don’t have the ability to change people’s hearts—that’s God’s business. But, I do have the power to speak truth.

Acts 20:20 says, “You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.” (NIV)

I really want to be able to say the same thing—that I have not hesitated to “preach” anything that would be helpful.

Additionally, 2 Timothy 2:15 gives apt instruction, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

Let us speak the truth boldly out of love.