Monday, May 16, 2011

THE MILLION-DOLLAR BOX

The other day I was offered to purchase a box.

For $50,000.

But it's no ordinary box. Inside that box is a check made out to me for one million dollars--cashable only if I purchase that box. No gimmicks, no scam--it is 100% sure that I will be a millionaire if I can find a way to make that box mine.

As I've been looking over our finances, I've discovered that we can probably come up with that $50,000. But it will take selling our home and taking the small amount of equity we have built up in our home, plus we'd have to sell our one paid-for car and get rid of the other, plus our furniture and clothing and toys. We would literally have to sell every last thing--and at that point we will probably have enough to buy that box.

And so I'm debating. I know that we stand to gain one million dollars if I buy that box. It's a sure thing. I just find myself torn over whether or not I'm ready to go through the process of giving up every last thing we have in order to get it. I think of the cost to my family, the loss of the way we've known our life to be. I keep wondering if it will be worth it.


You may be reading this, thinking, "DO IT! Of course it's worth it!! Yes, you'd have to get rid of all your stuff but think of what you'll gain in the trade! You'd be a fool NOT to do it!"

Exactly.




"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. He hid it again and--with joy--ran to sell everything he had to get enough money to buy that field."



Matthew 13:44

I read this passage with new eyes recently. There is nothing, nothing, nothing we could lay down that is worth more than what we will take back up in the exchange. I don't know what the man in this parable had to lay down, but he took one look at that treasure and knew without question that selling all he had would be a small thing in light of the gain that awaited him. And so--with joy--he made the trade.

We know this is something so much more than $50,000 for a million-dollar box. It's the laying down of our lives--and yes, sometimes even our stuff--in the pursuit of the Kingdom of Heaven. But just as my proposed transaction seemed to be an opportunity I should not dare pass up...

How much more the treasures of the Kingdom of Heaven?

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