Treasure Hunters

In June of 2020, the news broke that buried treasure had been found in the Rocky Mountains. The story as it unfolded was almost impossible to believe. Over a decade ago, Forrest Fenn hid one million dollars in treasure in the Rocky Mountains. He periodically gave clues online to the whereabouts of the treasure, as well as in a twenty-four-line poem published in his autobiography The Thrill of the Chase. Since it was first announced that the treasure was hidden out west, hundreds of thousands of people have searched for it. The Guardian, reporting on the find, wrote “Many quit their jobs to dedicate themselves to the search and others depleted their life savings. At least four people are believed to have died searching for it” (“$1M Treasure in Rocky Mountains Has Been Found, Says Forrest Fenn,” The Guardian, June 7, 2020 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/07/forrest-fenn-treasure-rocky-mountains-found). Without judging these treasure hunters too harshly, do you think the people who depleted their life savings and even died looking for treasure that was possibly buried in the Rocky Mountains were living with an eternal perspective on life? Were they living with God’s vision for time guiding their time in the here and now, or were they living for the here and now? Here’s another question: Were these treasure hunters any different from the countless others among us who while away hours and years of our life in pursuit of a career, who sacrifice relationships with our spouses and children for the sake of a paycheck? Are any of us living with an eternal perspective?