In case you haven’t heard it, this is a true story. In 2010, at the age of 80, Forrest Fenn wrote an autobiography, detailing his life as a Vietnam fighter pilot, self-taught archaeologist and art dealer. Fenn was quite successful in life and was a multimillionaire. In his book, Fenn detailed that he had hidden a treasure in a chest somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, and included a poem with clues on how to find it. The box, he said, weighed 40 pounds and was filled with gold coins, nuggets and precious gems worth well in excess of a million dollars.
Forrest Fenn’s treasure map and poem containing clues to its location
The chase was on. For the next decade, thousands of people—some believe as many as a quarter million people in total—attempted to find the treasure. Fenn said if he died, the secret of its location would die with him. Websites and social media sprang up to discuss the treasure. Seekers planned trips deep into the Rockies. But despite the interest and the large crowd of hunters scouring the region between Montana and New Mexico, the treasure remained hidden. During the hunt at least four people died, prompting Fenn to pen a public statement that the treasure wasn’t hidden in a dangerous place, and that it was a chase for fun and not for people to endanger themselves. “I was 80 years old when I hid it,” he said, “So it won’t be too hard to find.”
The hunt continued until June 2020, when the now-90-year-old Fenn announced that the treasure had been found, publishing pictures of the chest, but keeping all the other details secret. The finder wanted to remain anonymous. Anger and threats followed. Thousands of people had spent months—years even—and small fortunes hunting the treasure. Where was it found? What clues led to its discovery? Maybe this whole chase was fake. Why wasn’t anyone giving out the details? They wouldn’t say.
View Mark Maynard’s talk “Guard Your Treasure”.
Months later, a 32-year-old medical student, Jack Stuef, revealed he was the treasure finder. A former journalist, he had become obsessed with the Fenn treasure hunt. The secret to the location, he said, was in Fenn’s own words. He had researched every statement and interview Fenn gave, in addition to the words in his book, to reveal the clues that led him to the treasure. Fenn died in September of 2020. Stuef is keeping the location of the find a secret, in his honor.
What would you do if you held a similar treasure—an immensely valuable thing that had been entrusted to you? In 1 and 2 Timothy, the Apostle Paul instructs several times on what to do with a “treasure”. He said we should “guard what has been entrusted to us (1 Timothy 6:20) and “guard the treasure which has been entrusted to us” (2 Timothy 1:14). But what is that treasure?
Paul tell us in 2 Timothy. In 1:13 he calls it “the pattern of sound teaching.” In 2:2 he calls it “the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses.” Paul is talking about the very message that he has entrusted to Timothy. The treasure is the gospel. Paul mentions it in 2 Timothy 1:8-10: “So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life–not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
Millionaire writer and treasure hider Forrest Fenn
This is the good deposit we’ve received, and Paul tells us to guard it. It’s too valuable to lose. The message is that God has saved us and called us to a different kind of life. It is not because we merit it or deserve it. It’s simply because of God’s grace. What a treasure worth guarding! And the “box” into which valuable treasure has been placed is you and me—Jesus lives in us. We hold the treasure.
Our challenge and theme for 2022 is “Guard Your Treasure”. It’s a reminder of the faith that we hold, and its tremendous value for each of us. But unlike Forrest Fenn, who took his treasure into the woods and let it stay hidden among the pine trees for a decade, we Guard Our Treasure by living it out. By making it a priority. By staying true to its purpose and by sharing this most valuable gift with our friends and neighbors and coworkers. We Guard Our Treasure when it becomes our first order of business in every area of life.
Paul gives these instructions to Timothy as a cautionary reminder. They lived in challenging times, and Paul knew that immense difficulties were to come. That is why he said, “join with me in suffering for the gospel”. The path they were on wasn’t going to be easy. And it’s equally a reminder to us. The current year will certainly hold its challenges and difficulties. But when they come—and they will—remember the treasure that you have!
More than a year after Jeff Stuef found Fenn’s treasure, he admits he hasn’t planned what to do with it yet. He hasn’t even had it appraised. Maybe he will put some of it on display for the other treasure hunters to see, he muses. He hasn’t decided. Oh that we would not treat our treasure in such a way. May me guard it, protect it, live by it and use it each day to the benefit of our own lives and for the sake of those around us.