Making decisions

As I was enjoying my quiet time alone with my Father this morning, I was seeking Him on a very specific question.



Well let me back up a bit... We are at a crossroads in our lives. We are at the edge of a few different paths, each of which will lead us in a certain direction...life choices, job choices, security choices, ministry choices, lots of choices all at once. Early yesterday morning, I was seeking Him about which direction He wanted us to go. (One thing I've learned is that no matter how great something seems, I do NOT want to go that route unless God is walking that road with me!) So, I was drawing close to Him yesterday in the pre-crazy hours in our home, and I wrote a question in my journal, asking Him which direction He was calling us.



He led me very directly to 4 passages of Scripture that all tied in together in a way they never had before in my heart. Two of those Scriptures I really poured over were Matthew 13:44-46 and Matthew 25:31-46. One talks of the Kingdom of Heaven being like a treasure in a field that is found accidentally by a man. In his excitement, he hides the treasure again, sells all he owns and goes back to buy the field and to get the treasure too. The other Scripture talks about those who will inherit the Kingdom. He says that those who have served "the least of these" (fed the hungry, clothed the naked, invited strangers into our homes, etc) will inherit the Kingdom because whatever you do to the "least of these," you also do to Jesus. I sat pondering and soaking in these 2 passage of Scriptures. Later, my husband and I discussed them at length and in light of all the life choices we were making. If we decided to grasp the message, we knew we were being called to "sell all and buy the field."



I don't believe in coincidences. I believe in divine appointments. And yesterday morning we had one. After a long time of pondering Matthew 13 and Matthew 25, I went about my morning things. I made brunch for my family. After Sunday brunch, we almost always watch a sermon online from a nearby church that always challenges us in our spiritual walk. This has been our Sunday morning routine for a long time (we go to our local church on Sunday nights). We tuned in and found that yesterday we just couldn't get their live message. We tried 3 times, and by then I knew that there must be another message we were supposed to hear. I looked on their main page of online videos and saw one about Haiti (the pastor had traveled to Haiti last month). We love Haiti and were intrigued, so we settled in to watch his message that had been recorded over there. The title was "Treasure in the Field---Haiti." If you're interested in watching it, here's the link: www.jentezenfranklin.org/watch/ And as we listened to his message, my husband and I exchanged glances several time because Pastor Franklin quoted Matthew 13 and Matthew 25...the EXACT same Scriptures that God had given us that same morning. We KNEW beyond a shadow of any doubt that God was speaking to us.



His message? The treasure is in the field...go where the need is...pour your lives into serving "the least of these," and you will find hidden treasures of God's Kingdom...sell all and buy the field. Clear as day, that is His message to us. That is the direction He's calling us...to sell all and buy the field.



So, back to today...I was up early praying for direction. The question I wrote in my journal was this: "What does 'selling all to buy the field' look like in our lives?" We want to understand what specifically that means for us. My husband and I have committed to praying about it until we have very clear direction. This morning, I found a note in my Bible that said, "MAKE YOUR CHOICES FROM AN ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE."



What a concept! Stop and think about that one for a few minutes, and you'll find your whole mindset shifting. It's almost mind-boggling to consider what our lives would be like if we "sold all to buy the field," whatever that means in our own personal lives. Whatever form it takes, it means living with an eternal mindset...investing in things eternal. It speaks of giving up everything we THINK we are secure in and exchanging it for what FEELS insecure but in reality is the best security we could ever grasp our hands around. This mindset is upside-down, backwards and inside-out from the way we are trained in our society to think.



Those phrases keep running through my mind over and over: Make your choices from an eternal perspective. Sell all to buy the field.