LET us say that you knew that a priceless treasure was buried in a certain field. If you sold everything you owned, you would have just enough money to buy the field where the treasure was hidden. What would you do?

Jesus Christ used such a situation to illustrate the importance of God’s Kingdom. He said: “The kingdom of the heavens is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and for the joy he has he goes and sells what things he has and buys that field.”​—Matthew 13:44.

Are you like the “man” in the illustration? Jesus was. When he learned of God’s purpose to have a heavenly government​—here called “the kingdom of the heavens”—​he, in effect, sold everything he had to buy that hidden treasure, which for him was the privilege of being the Ruler of that government. Jesus gave up his position as a mighty spirit person in heaven and became a member of a poor family on earth in the remote city of Nazareth. Later, he suffered painful persecution and, finally, death on a torture stake. Thus he proved that he was worthy of becoming the Ruler of God’s Kingdom.

Will you, too, make sacrifices to obtain a similar treasure?

Jesus’ big objective was to do God’s will. He did not even try to have things that other people considered necessary for a “normal” life. He was concerned with one thing​—obtaining the field that had the hidden treasure, buying the priceless pearl. Are you, too, really seeking first God’s Kingdom? Does your life course show this?​—Matthew 6:31-33.