“Religion: On the hunt for spiritual treasure” |
| Religion: On the hunt for spiritual treasure Posted: 03 Oct 2010 07:22 AM PDT "Do we want him turning into Indiana Jones?" I ask as my wife picks out my 3-year-old son's bedroom décor. Before me are a series of classic, 1930s-style traveling posters with propeller airplanes and exotic locals. My wife smiles, she knows I love it. As a child of the '80s, I played "Indy" all the time. Actually I ended up acting the character, Indiana Jones, as part of a kids adventure day camp the summer of the last movie. I had the entire outfit, complete with bomber jacket, fedora and whip. One of the props was a treasure chest that the kids and I had to discover each day. I still have the treasure chest. It's now filled with misplaced screws, hair clips, some thank you cards and a little-used workout DVD. Why do the things designed to hold valuable treasure end up holding junk? What were our lives designed to hold? Jesus told two stories recorded in the Gospel of Matthew 13 concerning treasure. The first is, "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." Here is someone who has found a treasure chest filled with something valuable and desirable, something that brings him joy, enough joy in fact that a lifetime of acquiring possessions is quickly traded for possession of that valuable treasure. Why is life, even religious life, often like my "Indiana Jones" treasure chest and not like the valuable treasure in Jesus' story? Sometimes religion feels like a treasure chest filled with semi-valuable mementos of life. Jesus indicated that there was something in this life worth searching for off the busy streets of wealth, prestige or empty pleasure. The second story of treasure Jesus told gives added insight, "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." Here is a businessman who has made a living in acquiring and trading pearls. The pearl he finds is worth all the other pearls and his assets combined. It's as if when he found this pearl he now had the thing he had been searching for all along. Why does life seem like a perpetual pursuit for a shifting object? It seems that as soon as we acquire what we thought we desired, we are dissatisfied and search for something else. The pearl merchant seemed to have realized, "All this time I've been looking for fine pearls, yet I never knew all I wanted was this one pearl. This is the pearl that sums up my life's occupation." Why is life sometimesviewed like a string of pearls in which Christianity is one fine pearl among many others? Jesus spoke as if being with Him was the greatest pearl that absorbs all of life's other pearls in its luster. Without that pearl, the string looses all its worth. How many times have I thought a possession, a promotion, a vacation, or a commendation was so valuable only to find it lose its luster? I believewe are too easily satisfied by filling our lives with things that fail to put us in awed fulfillment. My experience has shown me that Jesus is calling us to something more than a religious remedy to the hangover of life. Maybe he's describing a relationship with Him that is valuable, personal, and fulfilling. Jesus' joyful description of life with Him in God's kingdom may not readilyappeal to our post-modern outlook on life. As a theoretical description of distant utopia in the after-life, it may be okay. But for everyday personal living, cynical pragmatism mayreject Christ's implications of finding true joy. Jesus backed up his statements by giving His life. He gave up His life in horrible suffering because He knew what He was making available - a treasure more valuable, more desirable, more joy-filled than His suffering was painful. May you find life's treasure chest filled with that valuable, desirable and enjoyable something whose luster does not fade. The search will be worth it. The Rev. Tobey Aubert is pastor of Daily Life Community Church, a new Christian church in Norwood that holds Sunday services at the Four Points Sheraton. Aubert has been in ministry for 14 years in Connecticut in the areas of teen and young adult ministry, sacred music, and pastoral care before moving to the Norwood area to begin this new ministry. He is an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God. For more information on him and the new church visit www.dailylifenorwood.org. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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