Lenten Devotional – Day 14

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Today’s Scripture: Matthew 13:36-53 (same scripture as yesterday)

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matt. 13:45-46)

“The spiritual life is a gift. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit, who lifts us up into the kingdom of God's love. But to say that being lifted up into the kingdom of love is a divine gift does not mean that we wait passively until the gift is offered to us.” ― Henri J.M. Nouwen

  A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In a room of 200, he asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?” Hands started going up.

  He said, “I am going to give this to one of you, but first, let me do this.” He proceeded to crumple the bill up. He then asked, “Who still wants it?” Still the hands were up in the air. Well, he replied, “What if I do this?” He dropped it on the ground, and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. “Now, who still wants it?” Still hands went into the air.

  No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it, because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth 20 dollars. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel that we are worthless, but no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do, or whom we know, but by who we are.

  Over the years as I have read this parable, I generally thought it referred only to pearls, diamonds or other precious stones which Jesus said had great value and told us about the great value of the kingdom of God. At some point, I did not just see this parable as referring to something materially precious, but about the precious nature of discovering the unique individuals among God’s people who add value to our lives by their mere presence. People of God who are of great value and beauty, which we would invest all we have, in order, to spend more time with them and hang with them for a while.

  I have come to understand that the kingdom of God is most often discovered in the midst of others, within the church, in acts of service, giving care, compassion and concern for others, and discovering people who are precious ones we are glad to spend ever a short time. We too frequently give value to those things with monetary value. Poverty in life is not the lack of money, it is the lack of relationships. We are poor, if we lack nurturing, loving, compassionate, relationships with other children of God.

We Boast in Our Hope

Hope means to keep living amid desperation and to keep humming in the darkness. Hoping is knowing that there is love; it is trust in tomorrow; it is falling asleep and waking again when the sun rises. In the midst of a gale at sea, it is to discover land. In the eyes of another, it is to see that he understands you. As long as there is still hope, there will also be prayer. And God will be holding you in his hands. - Henri Nouwen, With Open Hand, 85.

  In an article in Christianity Today, Cornel West stated, “As a Christian, I am a prisoner of hope.” (Christianity Today, October 26, 1998, p. 88) In the midst of all I do or ever did, God was always been there encouraging me to hope for far more than I ever thought possible.

  We need hope. Biblical hope is trustful expectation. Hope is the confidence that what God has done for us in the past guarantees our participation in what God will do in the future.

  From what do you draw hope? What keeps you going and gives you a reason to live? Many people rely on simple wishful thinking and call it hope. Where Jim Wallis from Sojourners magazine tells us, “Hope is believing in spite of the evidence and watching the evidence change.” This is hope based on what God is willing to do within our lives.

  Over the years I have been called upon to assist community groups work through problems, such as, alcohol or drug abuse. One of the most demanding problems in helping any group is to assist them in overcoming their own sense of hopelessness. When you approach a group that uses phrases, such as, "It's too late," "Nothing can be done about it," "You can't fight city hall," "You can't change the world," or "What's the use!" These statements indicate a group drowning in their own hopelessness. Their repeated failures only re-enforced their hopelessness, even though their hopelessness often leads to their failures, they see themselves only drowning.