Free Gift and Great Treasure

As a citizen of the future kingdom I must look ahead. To the prizes yet unseen. 
I have not always had a heavenly perspective; too easily distracted. The good Lord many things on this earth that shine brightly in reflection of His glory and goodness:

• poison frogs that hop around like jungle jewels

• daughters of eve with laughter and smile that light a room

• straw colored white wine from Carmignano region of Italy that flood the senses and warms the belly

• flora of the torrid zone with wonderous colors, textures and unique form

• cold patio beer amongst friends with the Colorado sunshine warm on your back

• mountain whitecaps and orange hued desert landscapes ripe with majesty 

These are just echos! Not prizes to obtain or gather or to chase. 

For the true prize is far greater as it is not a prize at all but a free gift: the unfathomable, relentless, and all consuming agape (unconditional) love that comes not from this earth. It was present since the beginning and will be until the end. 

He laid down His life for us, to save us from our depravity and sinful nature! Is that not the most beautiful kind of love, love that persists even unto brutal death? It is. 

John 15:12-13 NASB2020

[12] “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. [13] Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends. 

https://bible.com/bible/2692/jhn.15.12-13.NASB2020

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it." Matthew 13:45-46 New King James Version (NKJV)

Philippians 3:12–21 (NIV): 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained. 17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.