Noah Muroff of New Haven, Connecticut bought a secondhand desk from an online ad for $150 dollars. When he got it home it won’t fit through the door. After several tries, he finally decided to dismantle the desk and take it piece by piece. Hidden under one of the drawers was a bag of cash. Not just a little cash – a lot. Like $98,000 in various bills, all rolled up in a bag.
The family was stunned as they opened the bag and counted the money. What an amazing find in an old desk. Noah is an honest man and so he telephoned the seller ten minutes after the discovery. The seller had received the money as an inheritance and forgot where she had hidden it. Really! How do you forget where you stashed nearly $100,000?
Many of us have fantasies about finding money in the attic or buying a missing Picasso at a flea market for $10. Discoveries like that are fun and financially rewarding. Some people spend their whole lives hoping something like that will happen to them. Others actually spend time hunting for hidden treasures, looking for an unexpected bargain or hoping to stumble onto a deal.
Paul told the people at Colossae that they had already found a great treasure. He wanted them to understand the great mystery of God, “namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col. 2:3)
When I read the story about Noah finding the money I couldn’t help but think about what I would do with the cash. (Of course, I too, would return it. But in my mind I pretended the owner couldn’t be found.) To most of us, that is a large sum of money, a real treasure. But the Bible doesn’t equate dollars, gold, or riches with treasure. The real treasure is far more important and significant than money which will someday be all burned up.
Too often we forget the value of what we already possess. Our search for treasure is over. In Christ, we have everything we need. We are to start living off the benefits that our treasure brings to us.
