The Parables are the keys to the Kingdom

Jesus spoke to His disciples in parables.  When His disciples asked why in Mathew 13, He told Them it was because the secrets of the Kingdom are not for everyone to understand.  Now, this does not mean that the Kingdom is not for everyone.  To understand the parables, one must first turn to God to soften your heart.  This world hardens our hearts; to receive the Kingdom, we must go through a word-inspired heart transplant.  To open your heart to God, one must be willing to let go.            

Many different symbols are repeatedly mentioned in the parables, like fields, small things hidden, treasure, abandoning the old for the new, crops, harvest, and seed time.  In the Bible, a field can represent our hearts, Luke 8:4-15.  Luke 8 also expresses the need for softened soil (heart) to receive seed (word of God) that can bring forth a harvest.       

I want to focus for a minute on the parable about the hidden treasure or pearl in the field.  Matthew 13:44, The Kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.   When a man found it, he hid it again and then, in his joy, sold all he had and bought that field.  If we see the heart as the field from Luke 8, then the Kingdom (treasure/pearl) is hidden in our hearts.  We are to search our hearts for the small seed of the Kingdom that is hidden in all of us.  Once we find it, we have some things to contend with.  The parts of our hearts that do not align with the Kingdom.  After purging our hearts of whatever it is that confines our thinking, anger, fear, anxiety, hate, hurt, trauma...  We go back to that treasure and take ownership, with a softened heart turned towards God.  Then we have the keys, the dominion of the Kingdom!                

Above, we looked at how a treasure of great worth is hidden in our hearts.  I want to focus now on how this treasure is of great worth, yet it is small, especially at first.  In Matthew 13:31-32, Jesus told His disciples how the Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed (the smallest) planted in a field.  He goes on to say that though it is the smallest, it grows to be the biggest of all the plants.  So big birds can flock on its branches!  This parable repeats the theme of a field, only here something is planted, not found as in the parable above.  Reading of the word is planting that small seed in a fertile heart ready to sprout the branches of the Kingdom.  A family tree (Kingdom) that your whole flock can live on.                      

Matthew 6:33 instructs us to seek first the Kingdom of God and all His righteousness (right standing), and all these things will be added to you.  To know God doesn't take a bunch of religious rituals, tithing, or any other works.  Let no man enter the Kingdom of God by works so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:9)  It is not about what you do.  This is about becoming by the renewing of your (heart) mind.  Seek first the Kingdom through a relationship with your Father.  Read His word, what He says about you, and what you can do.  Stop letting the world shape you.  The world is so noisy, and God's whisper is trying to reach you.  Turn towards Him.