On Sunday Night my Church Youth Club had a treasure hunt in
the park. I love treasure hunts. The anticipation. The excitement. The mystery.
Going on a journey to some place unknown but knowing (hoping) that wherever it
leads you there will be something exciting at the end. Solving puzzles (which
for me is a reward in itself) in order to move forward and reveal a bit more of
the journey and perhaps even clues as to the final reward. And of course,
there’s the pretending to be pirates. Okay, that last one is entirely optional.
And usually not taken up on by anyone apARRRt from me. Needless to say I had a
great time.
Sometimes I treat my life and God like a treasure hunt. Like
it’s one great mystery waiting to be solved. Like if I put enough effort in and
am clever enough and solve enough puzzles I’ll be able to work out the next
step or get the reward that I’m after. Let’s be honest life is full of
mysteries and problems and sometimes we just want answers. The Bible has a lot
to say about how to live life well and how to be a better person. It gives us
all the clues we need to solve life’s problems and so it is easy to see how
life with God is like a treasure hunt.
But it’s not. It’s not like a treasure hunt at all. In fact,
if anything, it’s like a treasure hunt in reverse. It is easy to see life as a
challenge that we need to pass by proving our worth and then we get our reward
at the end of our lives in the form of a beautiful eulogy and eternity in
heaven. But that isn’t the big reward, that isn’t our prize. Or at least it’s
only part of it.
You see, God is the prize. Knowing Him and having Him in our
lives. There is nothing better than that. And the crazy thing is that in this
treasure hunt we get the prize at the beginning of the game! Having solved no
mysteries and fixed zero problems we’re already rewarded with the greatest
reward of all. And it’s only through this reward not earned by ourselves that
we can complete the challenges that lay ahead; that is to live life well and be
the people we were made to be. It’s not like any other treasure hunt I’ve ever
played before, but it’s my favourite by far!
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