My Treasured Pearl

I love pearls. They fascinate me. To think that a live creation of God made this beautiful gemstone is awesome. I know that the pearl farms have perfected the culturing process and can crank them out by the dozens but they all start with the lowly mollusk. It has to start with the live creature. That is amazing to me.

Through history pearls have been of great value. Before they were cultured finding a pearl was a rare discovery and very expensive. Culturing is now the thing but still pearls are graded and hold value. Strands of fine cultured pearls can cost hundreds and even thousands of dollars. The most expensive natural pearl ever found is a nine and a half inch pearl found in 1939 in a giant clam and is worth over three million dollars. That is a pearl of great price. Throughout antiquity we have always put a value to a mollusk produced pearl. We have tried to copy nature. (Can you say faux?)  But we have never really been able to produce a pearl that equals God's creation.  OK, that is the end of the gemology lesson.

It leads me to Matthew 13:45-46

 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls,

who, on finding one pearl of great value,

went and sold all that he had and bought it.

We were like the seeker looking for that thing that would bring us ultimate fulfillment, ultimate peace of mind, and an ultimate feeling of being loved. We searched and searched and tried this activity or that luxury. We attempted to produce this soul contentment on our own.  But we couldn't get that critical lasting satisfaction of the heart. You remember those days and you remember the day you found Jesus and the feeling of peace that filled your life.

Jesus put it very clearly to the people of His day. All the pearls of life you look at, try out, or participate in will not be the “it” that causes you to stop searching.  There is one pearl of great value – Jesus Christ Himself. When we discover His incomparable grace and mercy, His all-encompassing love, and His eternal forgiveness we have found the grand prize of our earthly quest.

When we give ourselves totally to belief and submission to Christ, we are like the merchant who sold everything he once thought valuable. Like he, we receive that one treasure that satisfies our search and soul forever.

Do you think the merchant in the story had buyer’s remorse? No, he had the best. Do you think the merchant became complacent about his treasure?  No, it was all he had ever wanted. Did he tell others about his treasure and display it?  Very probably, yes.

Jesus also called it living water to the woman seeking water so she would never thirst again. He called it finding something very valuable (a sheep, a piece of money, or a loved child) that was lost and celebrating at finding the treasure that had been so elusive. All of these characters of His stories were looking intently for something.  All of these examples were given to the people of His day to show the value of being born again,another name for believing in the forgiveness of Christ, that was used to explain eternal life to another seeker.

We, who are at the end of our search having found our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord, have an obligation to show others this pearl of great value. People are looking at and trying out all kinds of the world’s playthings but never experiencing inner peace. They may not even know that the answer is within us. Let’s share the treasure of knowing Jesus.

Let’s share our treasured pearl.