It might sound like an odd question, but it is important.  Really, everything hinges on your answer to this question.  Why?  Well, put simply, how much you value the kingdom of God will tell what you are willing to do to attain it, or to become part of it, depending on how you want to look at it.

Great Value

If you put a great deal of value on the kingdom of heaven, you will do a lot to get it and not lose it.  And if you value it higher than anything else, you will be willing to lose anything to get it and to keep it.  Why?  Because it is that valuable to you.  Think about something that is more important to you than anything else.   It could be a person or a thing; that part does not matter.  Now, if that person or thing were endangered, what would you do to save it?  Is there anything you wouldn’t do to save it?  You might not risk your life for it, but if you valued it more highly than even your life, you would be willing to risk your life to save it.  Is the kingdom of heaven that valuable to you?  If so, there is nothing you will not do or refrain from doing, to be able to become a part of the kingdom of heaven, or to maintain your citizenship in that kingdom.  Why?  Because it is more important than anything else in your life, including your life.

Little Value

If you find little value in the kingdom of heaven, you will do little to attain it or keep it.    The less valuable you think it is, the less you will be willing to give up to get it or to hold on to it.  Why?  Because it just isn’t that valuable to you.  Think about something that holds little to no value in your eyes . . . like a dust bunny.  How much effort are you willing to put into making sure you will be able to get that dust bunny, or that, once you have it, you don’t lose that dust bunny.  For most people, I suspect the answer is zero.  Most people will not lift a finger to acquire, let alone maintain, a dust bunny.  And if that is how valuable you think the kingdom of heaven is, you can see just how little, or nothing in fact, that you will do to acquire it or maintain your hold of it.  It just doesn’t matter to you.

Jesus and the Value of the Kingdom

In Matt. 13:44-46, Jesus tells two parables about the kingdom of heaven:  the parable of the hidden treasure and the parable of the pearl of great price.  Both parables teach the same lesson.  In the hidden treasure parable, a person(who represents anyone and everyone) finds a treasure in a field.   He hides that treasure(because he does not want anyone else to get it first), then he sells everything he has to buy the find that contains the treasure.  In the pearl of great price parable, a person finds a pearl of great value, then goes and sells everything he has to buy the pearl.

In the parables, the kingdom of heaven is that treasure or pearl.  And the person who wanted it was willing to give up everything, every last thing he owned, in order to be able to buy  it.  Now, Jesus is not suggesting that we can “buy” our way into the kingdom of heaven.  The point He is making is about how the person in each parable valued what he found.  The fact that in each parable the person sold everything to acquire what he wanted, what he valued, tells us everything we need to know regarding how valuable he thought it was.

What About Us?

Do we value God’s kingdom THAT much?  Are we willing to put the kingdom ahead of everything else?  Jesus is not suggesting that we sell, or even give away, everything we own to acquire the kingdom.  He is merely illustrating how important the kingdom needs to be to a person, any person. 

Application

There is nothing we would put ahead of the kingdom.  We will not let work become more important than the kingdom.  Our spouse, our family, our friends, none of them is more important than the kingdom.  So if someone we love wants us to do something that is contrary to the kingdom, we don’t do it.  Why?  Because the kingdom is more valuable to us than that person’s friendship/love, etc.

In Matt. 10:37, Jesus said that anyone who loved father or mother or son or daughter was not worthy of Him.  Why?  Because people who do not put God first, people who do not put the kingdom first in their lives, will never be able to acquire it, let alone hold on to it.  If this sounds like a difficult thing to achieve, you are correct.  Jesus said that most people would not be able to enter eternal life, something the people in the kingdom receive(Matt. 7:13-14).  This does not mean that you can’t, it just means that most people will not.  But you can.

Conclusion

So how much do you value the kingdom of God?  Is it something you would like to be a part of, but it is not as important as _______________(I’ll let you fill in the blank)?  If you would ever put anything in that blank, then the kingdom is not the most important thing in your life.  And if the kingdom is not the most important thing in your life, you WILL put others things or people in front of the kingdom.  You will put things or people in front of God.  Don’t be that person.  Instead, be the person who is willing to sacrifice anything and everything to be able to be a part of God’s kingdom.  Do you have to be willing to give everything else up to get it and keep it?  Yes.  But you will get so much more than what you give up(Mark 10:28-30; I Pet. 1:3-5).