Mission Faithwalk

  “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 . (Matthew 13:44-46)   C. S. Lewis wrote that our desires are not strong enough. We are like children contented with playing in the mud in our yards because we cannot imagine going to the shore and building sand castles. Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. According to the law, that treasure belonged to whoever owned the field, so the man who found it was making his acquisition of the treasure legal, but he had to sell everything he had to buy the field. It was a short-term loss of lesser possessions to gain a greater. We think we understand this, because we think we’d do it if we found a treasure. But we haven

                 Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. (Proverbs 29:25) Rabbit trail of the day:  does “fear of man” refer to man’s fears in general or specifically to man’s fear of man? Given the context, I’m inclined to think it’s the latter, but I don’t know that it really changes the overall idea. But, back to the real issue. I grew up in a real home, that include real people with their own real problems. I’m not going to say it was dysfunctional because the level of dysfunction was low. There are other families that are far worse off. But my family wasn’t perfect and there were some expectations that were hard (they may have been mine alone.) When I went to school and later to work, I faced other difficult people. Narcissism has always existed. It’s just in vogue right now.) But while my experience is minor in compared to what others face, I have seen the truth of the first part of the verse. In fact, I’ll take it a step further.

  Jesus told them another parable:  The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The owner’s servants came to him and said, “Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?”  “ An enemy did this,” he replied. The servants asked him, “Do you want us to go and pull them up?” “No,” he answered, “because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.    Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.” (Matthew 13:24-30) The perfect field, sowed with good seed, and then…weeds. I know the feeling. It often seems as if someone or something is out to ruin my crops by planting weeds. Some of them

                 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, (Philippians 1:9-10) As I read these verses this morning, I wondered why Paul didn’t write “love may abound more and more in wisdom…”  or perhaps “in knowledge and wisdom…” Doesn’t wisdom consist of knowledge, depth of insight, and discernment? Paul uses “wise” and “wisdom” in letters to other churches, why not in the letter to the Philippians? And the answer is… I don’t know. I did a little research. Paul wrote to three churches in Greece: Corinth, Philippi, and Thessalonica. He used the word wisdom 17 times and the word wise 12 times in his two letters to Corinth, but not at all in the letters to Philippi or Thessalonica. Looking through the uses of the terms in the letters to the Corinthians, he tends to scorn wisdom. Given the Greek fascination with philosophy (wh