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October 17, 2016
March 21, 2024

I Found A Treasure - Theology Of The Song - Austin Stone Worship: Kids

Every person in the world is in pursuit of something.

Even the one who claims they are not in pursuit of anything is indeed pursuing the desire of apathy and indifference. So the question we must ask ourselves is not are we searching for something, but what are we searching for?

For many, the search for success and prosperity await the daily grind. For others, the desire to be loved and approved of by friends, peers, and family will always carry the most weight. Parenthood bears the unique desire to have well-behaved, bright, confident children that grow up to respect and cherish us as parents. The list could go on. There is no shortage of desires that compete for our searching hearts regardless of life stage or life style.

But at the core of each of them is happiness. Every single person who has ever lived has set out in search of whatever will make them the most happy. The fortune of success, the allure of comfort, and the treasure of approval all have their origin in the aim of being happy. No one ever sets out in pursuit of being unhappy. Yet many people in this world have found the treasure they were searching for, and it yielded the opposite of their deepest desire.

“I Found a Treasure” is a song that tells the story of one who set out in search of happiness—“endless joy and perfect peace”—and found it.

I found a treasure
There’s nothing like it in this world
There’s nothing greater
It’s all I’ll ever need and more

I imagine these lyrics to be strikingly similar to the anthem of the man in Jesus’s parable who found a treasure in a field and sacrificed everything he had to get it:

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (Matthew 13:44 ESV)

What made this treasure—the kingdom of heaven—so satisfying and so full of joy that a man would gladly give away his whole livelihood to gain it? Our natural conclusion says he was eager to obtain the eternal kingdom of heaven offered freely by faith in Christ alone. But what will make the heavenly kingdom so heavenly is not the golden streets, the pearly gates, or the absence of sin, but the presence of Jesus. Jesus himself said it this way:

“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3 ESV)

The treasure the man found in the field was an eternal life not in a holy place, but with a holy person. Our hearts are searching for the same kind of endless joy and perfect peace, and the only thing that will satisfy is knowing the true God, and His Son, Jesus.

There’s no one higher
There’s nothing better in this life
Our one true desire
Only Jesus satisfies

When God opens our eyes to the matchless treasure of Jesus, and knowing Him as Lord, our response will increasingly be to want more of Him and less of everything else. When Jesus, through the Spirit of God, makes His home in our hearts, it will always produce more worship and more obedience. We will gladly clap and sing:

He is all I want
He is all I need
So I will follow where He leads

Article Details

Author
Brian Benkendorfer
Author
Related Congregation
Related Ministry
Kids
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Austin Stone Creative
Tags
kids worship
theology
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