The Pursuit of Treasure

In the Peace Corps, our desire for comfort hightens our longing for things that we miss.

I really miss peanut butter, and I’ll go to any length to get it.  

In the states, the anticipation of Smucker’s Peanut Butter and its familiar place between two delicious ego waffles for breakfast with a cup of coffee gets me out of bed in the morning.  

So when I find out that a store in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, sells peanut butter, I practically bolt there one weekend to buy some cheap, crappy brand of my beloved substance that would hold me over until my mom sends me my next jar.  I walk for forty minutes throughout Yerevan – a monomaniachal, fiendish determination soaring through my mind – before I hunt out only two jars on the bottom shelf in a grocery store wedged neatly between some jelly and Nutella.  I leave smiling with my prize, and make a mental note of where to come again the next time I run out.

We’re all treasure-seekers, and our pursuit of treasure can transform us into pirates. In Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack Sparrow accuses Will Turner of having acquired several very distinct pirate-like tendencies throughout the course of their journey.  Turner defensively denies Sparrow’s final and most damaging claim that he has become obsessed with treasure, to which Sparrow replies, “not all treasure is silver and gold, mate,” as he glances toward Elizabeth Swan, a beautiful woman, and the sole object of Turner’s infatuation throughout the movie.  

Our hearts long to worship; to treasure something above all else.  In his most recent sermon, Pastor Dan Nold speaks of a consultant who helped Coca Cola achieve their success.  The consultant asked the company to draw a box and to write what the company thinks they are “all about” inside of it.  At first, “great taste” was the concept in the company’s box. This concept failed, as anyone who would have tasted their “New Coke” product could have attested to.  The consultant later encouraged them to choose a different concept, so this time, the company went with “American Tradition.”  Once their new concept began to inform their entire production process, Coca Cola became what it is today.  

What’s in my box?  What do I treasure above all else?  I know where my focus and my attention should be, but I also know that I am often seduced, or “lead astray.” I’m challenged this week to press through false treasure and stay focused on Jesus, because that’s where I really want my heart to be.  

Weekly Grape:  What's in my treasure box?