Treasure Hunt (Part One of Three)

Easter egg hunts. I’ve always loved them. When I was a toddler, my mother and I traveled across town to my grandmother’s house for Easter where the hunt would begin. My uncle faithfully recorded the outing on 8mm film, so years later, when he transferred the film to VHS, we watched Easters gone by with “the hunt” as the central attraction.

There’s something about a treasure hunt whether it’s a hunt for a golden egg or something more valuable than that. With great glee we search for what’s lost. We desire to discover that which is unseen. We women often tuck away our jewelry treasures, and unearth our personal buried treasure only on special occasions.

But what are the true treasures spoken about in the Bible? Is it treasure that is attainable? Where do we go to find it?

Today we begin to decode God’s treasure map, but we must establish an important fact before we can move on in our search.

God owns all the treasure.

Years ago, my husband and I participated in a Crown Bible study. Every week we had to memorize one verse. They teased us in the first session with a one liner but then the second week they asked us to remember a whopper, 1 Chronicles 29:10-12. I had never memorized a verse this long, but of all the verses we had to recall, it is the one I can still recite today.

“Praise be to you, LORD, the God of your father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, LORD is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom, you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you, you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.”

This is a difficult concept for many of us.

We work hard.

We earn money.

We buy a nice house.

We have nice clothes.

We often have fancy cars.

Women have treasured jewelry.

We have treasured family members.

But do we own any of it?

The Bible says we don’t.

It makes it easier when God takes it away.

The most famous man in the Bible who experienced a loss of all his treasures was Job. He lost his family. He lost his possessions. He lost his health. But how did he react to this in Job 13:15:

“Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him” (Job 13:15).

Is this a thought you’ve had during a period of financial distress or loss of any kind?

Does hope rise to the top?

God owns all the treasure, both material and human.

The word God gave me to live by this year is “sacrifice.” It keeps coming up. This week, the Holy Spirit asked me the same question Jesus asked the rich young ruler in the Bible, “Would you be willing to sacrifice everything for me?” There was a time in my life, the answer would have been “no.” But this time I said, “it would be hard, but I am willing to do whatever you ask.”

Do you believe your treasures are on loan from God to you?

Is that the way you look at worldly possessions? Your family?

On Saturday, we will continue our treasure hunt and discover where we can find true treasure.