44“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.” Matthew 13:44 | NIV84
I was thinking the other day about wildflowers in the field. When you drive by and glance at an overgrown field littered with wildflowers, it is pleasing to the eye. It’s pretty in its natural state. The flowers make the plain field look beautiful. Now if you were to stop, get out and walk in the field, you’d find that each flower within itself is intricate and a city of its own. Some flowers are more complicated than the others and some are just prettier to look at, but each is beautiful in its own way.
Jesus was indeed the most beautiful man who walked the earth, but He was so ordinary that when looked upon in a crowd, He blended right in. He was kind of like a flower in the field, the most magnificent flower in existence, but one couldn’t tell by His external features that He was different. It was only when one stopped and closely examined Him that they discovered He was the most valuable treasure anyone could have ever found – a treasure worth giving one’s life for.
Then I thought about the gardens that people plant with all the beautiful trees, flowers and bushes and how they are so perfectly manicured and perfectly decorated to be exceptionally pleasing to one’s eye and emotions. If you were to drive by an open field with wildflowers growing, you’d think it was pretty, but when your eyes saw the manufactured man-made gardens, you’d be more drawn to its external beauty.
If Jesus were a flower, He wouldn’t be found in the man-made gardens where everyone visits, He’d be in the open field waiting for you to seek Him. He hides Himself, but yet He is out in the open for all to see… it’s just that the manufactured gardens seem so much better, but in reality they are not what’s truly real.
Selfless Surrender 