On a treasure hunt

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For: The Treasure Hunt That Changes Everything

What if the thing you've been searching for your whole life was buried just beneath the surface, waiting for you to pick up a shovel? What if God has treasures — real, life-changing, Revelation-level treasures — hidden and ready to be found, but He's just waiting to see if you're hungry enough to dig?

That's exactly what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 13.

The Parables That Demand Something From Us

During a recent sabbatical, spending time alone with God and away from everything, I kept coming back to Matthew chapter 13. In this chapter, Jesus teaches through parables — stories that teach truth. And Jesus used parables intentionally. He says it this way: "Those that have ears will hear, and those who have eyes will see." He wanted to find the people who were hungry for Him — not just the miracles, not just the free meals, not just the healings. He wanted the ones who would actually work at understanding the truth of God.

In Matthew 13:44, Jesus says, "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

Then again in Matthew 13:45-46, He says the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for pearls, "who on finding one pearl of great value went and sold all that he had and bought it."

Twice. Jesus says it twice. The kingdom of God is a treasure worth everything you've got.

What Is the Kingdom of Heaven, Really?

Now, I want to make sure we understand something here. The kingdom of heaven is not just a reference to heaven after we die. Heaven is a treasure, and I can't wait to go — it's going to be a great time. But Jesus spent so much of His earthly ministry speaking to us about the kingdom of heaven as something we experience right now, on earth.

The kingdom of heaven is God's sovereignty and His presence on earth. When you and I fall under a kingdom, we fall under its authority, but we also fall under its protection, its guidance, and its wisdom. Think about it this way: if there were marauders coming for your territory, you wouldn't have to fight them alone — the king would take care of it. That's what Jesus is describing. We function as individuals in the kingdom of heaven, and that kingdom takes care of us.

And Jesus says this kingdom — this life lived under God's sovereign presence and protection — is a treasure to be found. A treasure to search after. A treasure to be hungry after.

You're Supposed to Be on a Treasure Hunt

You and I are supposed to be walking around with our pickaxe, our shovel, our treasure finder — digging, searching, asking: God, are you here? Is there some revelation, some depth of you I haven't seen before? God, I'm looking for treasure.

I think about Yukon Cornelius from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. He'd throw that axe up, lick it, and say, "Nope, not it." He was on a search. No matter where he went, he kept digging. That's what you and I should look like in our circumstances — digging and asking, "God, is there something in this moment? I don't want something watered down. I want you to show me something greater than anything I've seen before."

And here's what's so incredible about God: God is unknowable, and yet He reveals Himself to us. The unknowable God, beyond anything we can imagine, chooses to reveal Himself because He loves you that much.

What I know about God is only the things I've searched for — the things God has allowed me to find as I'm digging for Him.

Even Digging in the Wrong Place Counts

Here's something that might surprise you: you could be digging in the wrong spot, but if you're digging with the right heart, God can plant a pearl of wisdom right there.

Think about Saul — the man who would later become the Apostle Paul — on the road to Damascus. He was digging in the wrong way, with the wrong equipment, heading to imprison and kill the early Christians. And yet Jesus saw his zeal, saw his heart, and said, "I'm going to give you some pearls of wisdom that are going to radically transform who you are."

Paul was at least working. He was hungry. He was diving in. And God met him right there.

This is what Jesus promises in Matthew 7:7-8: "Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks, it will be opened."

Asking. Seeking. Knocking. Those are all aspects of work.

The Problem With Living Off Old Treasure

Some of you right now are living off a pearl you dug up 20 years ago. You had a moment — a real, genuine, God-encounter moment — and it was incredible. But you put down your axe. You got tired. And you've been living off that one experience ever since.

The man in the field didn't stop after finding one treasure. The merchant didn't retire after finding one pearl. Paul himself wrote in Philippians 3:13, "Not that I have already obtained it, but this one thing I do — I press on." We can actually watch Paul's theology grow across his letters. His understanding of God deepened over time. Why? Because he kept digging. He was pouring out into people's lives and digging at the same time.

God is not a respecter of persons. He desires to pour out into you just as much as He did into Paul, into Billy Graham, into D.L. Moody, into Martin Luther. That's His desire. But the question is — are you hungry enough to dig?

Getting Into the Word Yourself

I want to say something about devotionals — I have nothing against them. But a devotional is someone else doing the digging for you. That's a good starting point, but church, we need to be in the Word ourselves.

We believe in the Holy Spirit. We believe He speaks to us. So why not open the Word and say, "Holy Spirit, I'm digging for treasure today. I know I've read John 3:16 a million times, but would you reveal something new to me today?" And then dig. And keep digging. And if you're in the wrong place, let God redirect you to another scripture.

Early in my ministry, during some really hard struggles, I began to pray through the Psalms. Two hours a day. I spent six months on Psalm 18 alone. Why? Because every time I dug, I found something more. I wasn't reading commentaries. It was just God and the Word. I'd pray the psalm over my life — "The cords of death entangled me" (Psalm 18) — and then I'd be quiet and let God speak.

Too often our prayer life is one-sided. We talk at God and never listen. But a one-sided prayer is a waste of time, because prayer is meant to be communication. And communication means listening.

Trained for the Kingdom

In Matthew 13:51-52, Jesus wraps up all these parables by asking His disciples, "Have you understood all these things?" They said yes. And He said, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of God is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old."

A scribe in those days wasn't just a copyist — they were deeply knowledgeable in the Word. They wrote scripture over and over until they knew it inside and out. And Jesus says those who are trained for the kingdom of God are like that. They bring out new treasure and old treasure. You can't stop with the old. You can't say, "I read the Bible through in a year — I'm good." That's the beginning of the process, not the end.

Colossians 1:15-20 tells us that Jesus "is the image of the invisible God" — God desired to reveal Himself to us, and He sent Jesus. Born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, rose again, and now sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for you and me. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16). God desires to reveal Himself. He always has.

And He desires to reveal Himself to you — personally, powerfully, in ways that will make you say, "I've got to sell everything I have to go buy that field."

There Is More

I heard a story recently about how someone who had just received Jesus as their Savior was told, "There's more." And she said, "There's more?" — like she couldn't believe it.

I'm here to tell somebody: there's more.

It's Jesus — and knowing Him more and more and more. What you know of Him today can be bigger tomorrow. You can begin to see the fullness of Him in ways you never imagined.

And when we think about why some people worship with such joy, such exuberance — it's because they found some treasure. They dug, and they found something that radically changed them.

I'm not satisfied with my current treasure. It's great. I'm so grateful for what God has done. But I need more. And it shouldn’t surprise us that God actually wants more for us as well!

Putting It Into Practice

So what does this look like in your daily life? Here are some next steps to start your treasure hunt:

The treasure is real. The pearl is there. God is waiting — not because He's withholding, but because He's looking for people who are hungry enough to dig.

Are you hungry? Then pick up your axe. Start digging. And don't stop until you find something.