He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.

Matthew 13:11

Jesus had secrets.  God has secrets.

This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.”

Matthew 13:35

It is something to think of this.  In some ways, they were closely guarded secrets, yet on the other hand, they could be thought of as some of the ideas hidden in the most plain sight possible.

Even as Jesus had no earthly comeliness that men should be drawn to Himself, it was the inner, Spirit in the message that made the difference.

When we come to the Christian walk, we often find ourselves at a place of a new place in God.  It seems as if we have come through a certain place, and are coming into a new, wide-open place.

When it comes to places like this, there is simple wisdom, the wisdom of Jesus, simply believe.  What does it look like to believe?

Jesus said, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which when a man found it, for joy, he hid it again, and sold all he had, and bought that field (Matthew 13:44).  He said, the eye is the lamp of the body, that when the eye was single, the whole body is full of light (Matthew 6:22).

If there is one piece of wisdom about which faith depicts, it is this.  For faith to be most effect, it must be pure.

I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

Mark 11:23

Biblically, throughout the entire New and Old Testament, there is only one approach to faith, and that is wholeheartedness!

When the man found the treasure, and knew it’s worth, he sold all he had.  The same is true of the man concerning the pearl of great price.

When the disciples heard the call to to follow, they left their nets, they left their families,  boats, and entire living.  They left everything and suffered its loss to obtain what they had seen in Jesus.

Whenever anyone finds any part of the Kingdom, whether it is deliverance, prophecy, preaching, exhorting, or any other part of the Kingdom, a new mission field, or any other work of the Kingdom, to really pioneer that thing, to really step into it and be most profitable for the Kingdom in that area, there must of necessity be a loss of everything else relating in competition to that thing.

If it is prophecy or other forms of public speaking, then any investments in pride, self-presentation, self-preservation, and self-motivation must be lost, put to death, left.  If it is missions or a people to which you will be sent, your old life must be laid down for the sake of another people, including preferences in terms of customs, diet, and living conditions.  With any work of God, all else must be laid down.

Jesus, who is The Way, lived in this way.  He, the God and creator, left the riches and glories of heaven, seeing the treasure of His people, and bought the entire field, the world, for what He saw of value.  He did this with faith.  The same way He lived, so must we.

And, from glory to glory, from faith to faith, we lose this world to gain His.  We lose our life to obtain His.  The path, for the world, looks like wasting away, but, as Paul wrote, inwardly, we are renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16).  What looks like death to the world, is really absolute, abundant life (John 10:10).

So, what do you do when you come to the edge of a wide-open place in God?  What do you do when you catch a glimpse of something great?

You don the apparent “shame” of a man selling his entire life’s possessions to buy an apparently “worthless” field.  You put on what looks like “beggars clothes” for a short while, while you sign the title deed for that lot.  You rid yourself of everything in your life, good, bad, or otherwise, simply because of the worth of the treasure.

If what you see is really worth it, and the timing is right, and the call is there, it is only right to step out.  At some point, Peter had to leave the boat after Jesus had said “Come”.  At some point, Paul and Barnabas had to set out on the missions.

Yet, what is sown in tears, is reaped in joy (Psalm 126:5).  What we lose in this life, we store up treasures in heaven.

When we reach the edge of what we know, and we are commanded forward, the only life there is, is the life of faith.