The Gold Rush
“I found gold!” The shout that rang across the nation in and around the year 1849 that sparked the famous Gold Rush migration. The plot to seek a fortune ignited a quest for thousands of people to make the trek to California for a richer life. Tens of thousands traveled in covered wagons, risking their lives with hostile Indians, bandits, disease, severe elements, and treacherous trails. Many migrants chose to sail around the tip of South America, finding just as many challenges and dangers. The vision of wealth overshadowed all the sacrifices that were necessary to reach their destination.
In The Eyes Of The Beholder
Even if the sacrifice was life itself. If you think about it, gold has always been precious in the eyes of the beholder. Many verses in the Bible reveal it was a symbol of earthly riches, (Job 3:15, Isaiah 2:7, Acts 3:6, Revelation 18:12). For the longest time, our eyes have seemed to magnetically focus on these earthly treasures. Where are your eyes fixed? Would you become one of the “forty-niners” if you dwelled in that time of gold fever? Matthew 6:21 says, “Where your treasure is, that is where your heart will be.” Then goes on to say that we cannot serve both God and the proverbial golden nugget.
When our eyes are turned to our bank account, nice car, or whatever we place great value in… that will become our priority. If our eyes are turned to these things, they will not be turned to God. Look how it turned out for the forty-niners. Very few of them ever struck it rich. Hard work, no housing, poor sanitation, and the law of the west kept most of them in poverty.
Fix Your Eyes On Jesus
Mark Twain said, “During the gold rush it’s a good time to be in the pick and shovel business.” That goes to show that the eyes fixating on the correct thing can be profitable. Just think about all those things the migrants sacrificed with pure tunnel vision of something that ultimately give them even less. The same is true in our spiritual migration. Jesus said in Mark 8:36, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” There is nothing wrong with enjoying earthly treasures as long as our eyes are fixed on Jesus. He is the pioneer and perfector of our faith, (Hebrews 12:2).
When we can do that, then our short-term perceptions will turn into long term realities. Yes, the journey of faith can be as long and treacherous as the Oregon trail. We can repeatedly fill our pan with gravel and shake it with hopes of finding something of physical value. But by turning our eyes to Jesus, our pan will not become a burden. He will be there to shake out the rocks of sin to reveal our sparkling fortune of faith. What we experience then with that faith will be more valuable than any size of gold nugget that appears, (1 Peter 1:7).
Heavenly Father, help me keep my eyes fixed on You, for there is where my treasures will be stored for eternity. Amen.
Job 3:15
Isaiah 2:7
Acts 3:6
Revelation 18:12
Matthew 6:21
Mark 8:36
Hebrews 12:2
1 Peter 1:7
— Phil
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Today’s Scripture
Job 3:15
Job Laments His Birth
I would have slept; then I would have been at rest, 14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves, 15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
Isaiah 2:7
The Day of the Lord
7 Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots.
Acts 3:6
The Lame Beggar Healed
6 But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”
Revelation 18;12
The Fall of Babylon
11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, 12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, 13 cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.
Matthew 6:21
Lay Up Treasures in Heaven
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Mark 8:36
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?
Hebrews 12:2
Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
1 Peter 1:7
Born Again to a Living Hope
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.