In the ancient kingdom of Dacia, gold was everywhere. Emperors greedily tried to get ahold of all that gold. Especially jealous were they of King Decebalus, the ruler of Dacia. Being a ruler in a kingdom full of gold made the king a very rich man.

King Decebalus wanted to keep it that way—so he came up with a sneaky plan: Next to his palace was a river, and the king forced the river to change direction. (Kings did anything they wanted back then!) Then, sneakily, he unlocked his trove of gold from the palace and carried it to the now dry riverbed. There, he buried his treasure. Then, the king made the river flow just as it did before. Hiding his big secret.

Only after the king died was the secret revealed: that piles of gold lay hidden at the bottom of the river! Whoa.

This is a story about a king obsessed with keeping his treasure all to himself.

Unlike this king, our King—our heavenly Father—gives freely of His treasures. His greatest treasure? His only Son. The Son He loved with all His might: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

A generous Gift-Giver, God gave up His most precious Treasure— Jesus—to give us the gift of life forever with Him. Have you accepted His free gift?

Jesus, You are God’s greatest Treasure. I believe that You died on the cross for my sins and came back to life again! I’m sorry for my sins. Please come into my heart and life, and be my King and my Friend. I want to live forever with You. In Jesus’s name, amen.