What is it worth to you?

Every one of us have probably either asked or been asked this question at some time in our life. Someone once said that something is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, value is too. For example, one person may pay millions of dollars to have some ancient artifact or painting that another person wouldn’t take if it were free. This proves that the old saying really is true which says, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

It is an established fact that the value of something increases in direct proportion to both its rarity and the difficulty with which it is obtained. This is easy to see when you consider something such as water – which for most of us are free and abundantly available at all times. But the moment it becomes scarce, we realize just how valuable it is. A man lost in a desert would give a fortune for the same glass of water we might spit out because it is lukewarm. Ultimately we prove what we value by where we give or spend our resources – including our time. Someone who spends a lot of money on a drug habit is proving that they value the pleasure that drug brings them more than other things they could be doing with that money. Similarly, someone who spends several hours a day on a hobby or recreation, for example, is proving that they value that pastime more than other things that they could be doing with that time.

It is an inescapable fact that the value we place on something is ultimately our estimate of how much joy, pleasure, freedom, fulfillment etc. that we believe it will bring us. It is also an inescapable fact that the ultimate proof of how much we value something is how much we are willing to give up in order to obtain it. A famous American author once remarked that pheasant hunting was worth whatever it cost. He derived so much joy out of the sport, that he was willing to pay whatever sum of money was necessary in order to do it. In Matthew 13:44-46 Jesus applied this same principle to the kingdom of God when He said, “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. 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.”

One way to understand these illustrations is to see God as the man who found the treasure hidden in a field and the pearl of great value. If we take this viewpoint, mankind represents the “treasure hidden in the field” and the “pearl of great value.” Because God valued us so much, he was willing to give his own son in order to buy us. (John 3:16) But we can also understand these illustrations in the more obvious sense – “the treasure hidden in the field” and “the pearl of great value” both represent the kingdom of God and we are the man who has discovered this valuable treasure.

Once we discover the “treasure” of God’s kingdom, we are faced with this simple question: “What is it worth to you to see God’s kingdom come in your life?” But before we can answer this question, we must have a good understanding of what the kingdom of God is. Once we truly understand what it means to “inherit” the kingdom of God as Jesus said in Matthew 25:34, then we, like the man in this illustration will be so joyful at the prospect of inheriting such a treasure, that we will be willing to give up all we have in order to obtain it. (See article titled, “The kingdom of God”)

Jesus said in Luke 12:32 that God is pleased to give us the kingdom; but he still expects us “possess” it by faith. (Hebrews 6:12) The question I mentioned above may be rephrased like this: “What is it worth to you to have God’s perfect will done in your life?” What are you willing to give up to be pleasing to him? What are you willing to do to “possess the kingdom?” (Daniel 7:22) Ask yourself this simply question today: What is the kingdom of God worth to you? .