Treasure the Heavenly Treasures

The moment I was out of the train, I quickened my steps.

I was late for church.

I climbed up the steep escalators, one after another and zoomed past the people standing still on the left lane.

Why weren’t the people in a hurry to go service? Worship had already started.

I was one of them before. Taking for granted the freedom to worship every Sunday.

Every minute late meant every minute of worship singing missed. I wanted to enjoy the worship session as long as possible and hence hurried up.

Because of baby Evangeline, we were almost always late every Sunday. No matter how we rushed, we would miss a big part of the singing session and come in during communion, or even later during offering time or when the sermon had started!

I have the chance to play sermons throughout the week as I hustle the daily grind. But corporate worship is hard to replicate at home. Worship singing in church set asides the time for the soul to solely look to God.

Without the luxury of being able to attend the worship singing every week, it made me treasure the time I could arrive early for service. Thank God for a wonderful hubby who could take care of sick baby Evangeline while I sneaked off to church this Sunday.

This reminded me of Christians, from certain countries, who have little freedom to worship or to attend church. This gave me a taste of their greed for the things of God. The hunger to worship.

Having luxury dulls our inner soul and makes us forget about giving thanks. Luxury of time, freedom, safety, wealth, or (fill in the blank).

So even in much, I pray God will give me the grace to give thanks and be hungry for Him. To see the true value of God and His people while holding lightly to the wordly things that amount to nothing at the end. To be willing to give up all earthly possessions to possess the precious pearl of heaven.

The parable of the pearl of great price.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” – Matthew 13:45‭-‬46