There is a saying: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” This is especially true when the topic of heaven comes up. While some Christians long for to walk on the streets of gold, many today (including Christians) are not interested in it. Some have bought into the world’s appraisal of heaven: its an empty promise that’s glittery but boring (sitting on a cloud playing a harp while eating cream cheese). Basically, the world sees it as trash.
Of course, Jesus has a different view of the value of heaven. In Matthew 13:44, 45, He shares two important parables on the subject.
The first parable is about a man who happened to find a treasure in a field. It was so valuable he went home and sold everything he had so he could return and buy the field (guaranteeing that treasure, and possibly more, was his). His second parable is about a merchant who was purposefully searching for fine pearls. Then, he found it: the Pearl of great price. It wasn’t just that the pearl cost a lot, but it was worth a lot. So much that the man ran home, sold all he had, and bought the pearl.
Jesus’ point? Heaven is so valuable that if you just bumped into its truth, or fell onto its light, you would give up everything this world offers in order to make sure it was yours. Heaven is so valuable that if you are really looking for what is priceless, and are honestly searching for “fine pearls,” then when you see the value of Heaven, you’d gladly give up all this world gave you in order to make it yours. The world sees heaven as trash but Jesus says it is a treasure and a priceless pearl. Is He right?
Maybe we need a reminder of, or an introduction to, heaven’s glory. (See Revelation 21:3–5 and Revelation 22:1–5. There are many more texts about heaven, but these are a good starting point.) Here’s a summary:
God is going to wipe away every tear from our eyes (Revelation 21:4). There will be no more sickness or death: no more colds, no more heart attacks, no more strokes, and no more cancer!
The curse will be wiped out (Revelation 22:3). In other words, no more sin: No more stealing, no more lying, no more broken relationships, no more selfishness, and no more terrorism.
We will have new bodies (1 Corinthians 15:51–53): our eyes and ears will be opened, legs and necks and backs renewed. We will run and not grow weary, walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:31).
We won’t need hospitals, or insurance, or doctors, or nurses. We won’t need police, or congress, or military, or presidents. We won’t need elders, or deacons, or treasurers, or clerks. We won’t need new churches, or seminars, or cooking classes, or VBS. And we won’t need pastors (I’m okay with that).
Jesus will be our High Priest and God will be our God. We will see His face (Revelation 22:4), and will worship Him on the Sabbath with all creation (Isaiah 66:22, 23), and we will live for ever and ever, and ever, and ever (Revelation 22:5)!
Nothing on this earth compares. Nothing. Heaven far outweighs anything we might have to give up here.
But what if the man in the field left the treasure there? What if the merchant just walked on by? What if they had seen it as one man’s trash, but not as their treasure?
One summer, while visiting my grandparents, I bought a pack of baseball cards. Noticing my enthusiasm, my grandpa told me that I could have his cards from his childhood. Of course I accepted. As we searched for his cards, he named off a few cards he remembered having. One caught my attention: Mickey Mantle’s rookie year card (alone worth about $500,000 then). He also had complete sets of cards for several years which would have been worth no less than $1 million. As you can imagine, I began to search harder. After a while, he finally asked my grandma if she had seen the box of his baseball cards. “Oh, those worthless things,” she said. “I threw them out in the trash.” One grandma’s trash…
God has provided a glimpse of the glory waiting for us in heaven, but have you found its treasure? Have you seen its value? Do you want to claim it as yours, or do you just see it as one man’s trash? Remember, every bit of treasure of this earth will just be trash when Jesus comes, but on that day, even the trash of Heaven will be a treasure. Fix your eyes on the pearl, Keep sight of the glory. Claim your treasure… today!
Photo by Tim Bogdanov on Unsplash
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)