Your Life Is A Buffet Plate
I love a good buffet. The ceiling-high pile of all-you-can-eat crab legs? The smiling carver at the prime rib station who keeps layering thick slabs of beef on my plate? Are you kidding me? Let’s go now!
The problem is that there are too many tempting options in the buffet line that come before the good stuff. My plate is always filled with misoyaki opah and garlic shrimp before I get to the crab. Then I have a tough decision to make. Should I go eat what I have and come back for the crab legs (and risk being full by the time I get to them)? Or should I ditch my plate full of decent food somewhere inconspicuous and just dive right in to the epic food?
That’s the question many of us ask when we come to God. We have a plate that already seems full, and we’re not sure how to shoehorn him into what’s already on there:
- You have school to worry about, and your parents are pressuring you to do well.
- You’ve got a career to build. If you want to advance, you know you need to work crazy hours and always be available.
- You have a house, along with a never-ending list of projects to do. There are always more projects to do.
- You’ve got kids, and you need to make sure they’re always doing some activity — playing some sport or joining some club — because there’s only one rule in parenting, and that’s to make sure your kids are never, ever, ever bored.
- You have 47 unread emails in your inbox, and 3 days’ worth of Facebook posts to catch up on.
- You’ve got Netflix shows stacking up in your queue. You can’t just let those go unwatched! You paid good money for them.
And then you come to God. And you wonder how you’re going to fit him onto that crowded plate. You know you should probably go to church, and pray, and read your Bible, but you just don’t know how it’s all possible.
What if the answer is to clear off your plate so there’s room for the big slab of prime rib? That’s the question Jesus was asking when he told a short story about a hidden treasure:
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. (Matthew 13:44)
There’s a priceless find that’s waiting for you at the end of the buffet line. But it won’t fit on your plate unless you’re willing to give up everything else to make room for it. That’s the only way to get it.
“I can’t do that!” is what most people say, “It would be too painful!” But the man in Jesus’ story doesn’t feel the pain. “In his joy he goes and sells all that he has.” When you fully appreciate how incredible the treasure is, the sacrifice required to get it is barely even noticeable.
“So then, why is this treasure so valuable?” is the next question people ask. That’s exactly the question we’ll be exploring this Sunday at our special outdoor combined service under the monkeypod tree. Join us Sunday May 29 at 10am and bring a friend!