See On How You Can Seek The Kingdom Of Heaven
The kingdom of heaven is a treasure. It is beyond what money can buy. But it is hidden. This means that for a passer- by or a casual seeker, it is invisible. Eternal things are invisible to the natural eye. Yet it is a treasure of a great price. When a man suddenly discovers it and the treasure in it, seeing the capacity of what that kingdom will make out of his life, he first of all hides it quickly before considering what it takes to get it. This is because he knows that the enemy (the devil) will not want him to get it.
It is important to note that Satan had also seen the glory of the eternal before, but he misbehaved and was cast out from that glory with no opportunity for repentance. He wishes that he can get it but heaven has declared him eternally bankrupt and his case is forever sealed.
Therefore, one of his preoccupations is to make sure human beings also don' t see the treasure in that which is eternal, lest they go for it. In order to distract you, he will continue to show you the glory of this world, so that you will not see what God has prepared for you. But when you discover the treasure of the kingdom, if you do not deliberately hide it in your heart even before you begin to consider what it takes to get it, Satan will quickly try to hide it again from you. That is why the bible teaches that when a man has found it, he should hide it. And for the joy thereof, he will go ahead to sell all he has in order to buy it is forever sealed.
For a man to sell all he has in order to buy something that thing must be very exciting to him. It must be something worth more than all that he has. He must have seen the treasure in it. It is unfortunate today that some Christians behave as if somebody forced them to be Christians. They have to be pampered, encouraged and pushed all the time before they can move forward. It isbecause they have not seen the treasure in the kingdom.
Some are Christians only because of the fear of hell and not for the joy of heaven. Those who are Christians only because of the fear of hell cannot really live and labour in this world for eternity in heaven. What they will be asking is, ' Tell me anything I do that will take me to hell so that I will stop doing it. ' So their Christian life is that of do' s and don' ts. That is not the right way to be a Christian.
All the Christians that laboured with eternity in view were excited about heaven. If you are not excited about eternity, you cannot labour for it. Jesus was able to endure the cross because He saw that there was a joy set before Him. If you are not excited about what you have in
Christ, you are likely to drop it for something else in this world that is more exciting to you. That is why people backslide.
But when a man is excited about what he has discovered in God for his life, he rejoices even when he is being persecuted for it. He is happy just as the disciples of Jesus were when they were being persecuted. They rejoiced in the hope that was set before them. They were excitedly and rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus. Paul excited declared his conviction of the glory to be revealed in us For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ' (Rom 8: 18 ESV).
When Stephen was being stoned, he was rejoicing. His face was shining and he saw a vision of Jesus standing in glory! While they were stoning him, he was praying for them. ' Father, do not count this sin against them' , he prayed. He knew that they did not know what they were doing. They could not see. They did not know that they were only promoting him into glory so quickly. He saw the glory of God and Jesus standing (not sitting this me at the right hand of God to welcome him home.
