It’s a sad day when people are offered the kingdom of heaven, but they don’t see its value. They set it aside as a common thing and go their way. Image going to an antique store and finding a priceless antique there. The seller has priced it as a common item. But it is worth many times more than the price being asked. It could be bought for pennies, but like many others, you passed it up. You thought it was as common as the other articles in the store. A few days later you read in the local news that someone has bought that item at the antique store. He paid the rock bottom price being asked. But unlike you, he perceived its value to be much greater than the asking price. He had it appraised by experts and learned it is worth millions of dollars. You look at the picture of that item in the news article. It is the one you picked up and examined a few days earlier. It was in your hand. It could have been yours. But you passed it up. If only you had perceived the true value of that treasure. You could have bought it and become rich.
Illustration given in sermon by Richard Tow entitled "Selling Out to God."