The Pearl of Great Price

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it" (Matthew 13: 45, 46 NKJV).

I woke up thinking about this parable, and I knew it was something God wanted me to write about today.  Though it is only two verses long (one of the shortest parables of Jesus), we have an image here of Christ's heart and His mission.

Forsaking All Others

This merchant cherished many things.  He started out seeking pearls, not just one but many.  His life was full, but it was not singularly directed at any one goal.  Then, suddenly, he learned of this one pearl and did what appears to be a foolish thing--he threw away all that he had and went after this one thing with total abandon.  What prompted the change?

I believe he saw something in that pearl that nothing else could equal--in other words, a quality that made everything else in his life seem silly in comparison.  It wasn't foolishness to him to go after it with such abandon, because it was a chance of a lifetime, and he couldn't pass it up.

Yet, Christ wasn't talking about merchants and pearls.  He said very clearly that this is a quality of "the kingdom of heaven."  We are talking about deep spiritual things, specifically, the kind of love that Christ has for us, and the kind of love He wants to see in us.

No Greater Love

We all have things that we deeply love and desire, above all other things.  It could be advancement, fame, fortune, or that one secret dream (whatever form it takes), and if we get the opportunity to go after it, we will abandon everything else.  If you don't think you have such a deep desire for something, then examine your life, focusing on the big decisions you have made.  What did you go after?  What was left behind?

Jesus examined Himself, I believe, in the garden of Gethsemane.  He had a choice to make, between ultimate and unlimited power as God on earth, or the lives and love of His friends.  On that night, Jesus revealed what He really loved.  As He said (long before this crisis came), "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends," (John 15: 12, 13 NIV 2011).  Jesus chose the cross and terrible suffering, counting it as nothing, for the sake of the greatest love of His life--that is, believers.  As Paul summarized Christ's decision:

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2: 5-8 NIV 2011)

 Adam loved himself more than God or others (even his wife and his children), and so he sought equality with God, to the loss of all other things (Genesis 3: 4-6;  Romans 5: 12-15).  Jesus was already equal, and deserved to be treated and respected as God, yet He chose to be a servant, despised and rejected, and ultimately thrown out with the trash.  Why?

Love, as Christ revealed, is a humble and self-sacrificing emotion. It isn't after something for itself; it puts all value on the object of that emotion, to the death of self. "Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned," (Song of Solomon 8:7 NIV 2011), the wisest man on earth wrote.  Love cannot be obscured or quenched by anything in this world, because it comes from a source above all this.  It is a fruit of the Spirit of God (Galatians 5: 22-25).

Loving as Christ Loved the Church

Jesus held this great love in His heart for us.  Though we will never be as perfect as He is, He has called us to this kind of love.  Jesus doesn't want us to love Him partially, still holding on to other loves that could draw us away from Him from time to time.  He doesn't want us to make Him the pearl of great price in our lives, only to value another pearl greater than Him, and cast Him aside.

He doesn't want us to treat our friends that way, either.  He even went so far as to say that someone who didn't love his brother was not a believer (1 John 3: 11-24) and anyone that didn't care for his own family was worse than an unbeliever (1 Timothy 5:8).  We are called to love with this sacrificial intensity, even if that love is scorned (Ephesians 5: 25), and we have condemned ourselves if we don't see the need for this humble servant's love in the lives of those around us.

Let us love like we have been commanded--not for what we can get, but rather, for what we can give.

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (2 Philippians 2: 1-4).

Weekly Snippet: Plow Your Own Field

"Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense," (Proverbs 12: 11 NIV 2011).

I have to admit that today, I don't feel strong enough to do the work that needs to be done in my life.  If each day is like plowing a furrow on a field, today's was full of rocks.  Tomorrow looks just as promising.  Just the same, I see that God didn't design my life to always be ideal and easy.  Sometimes life is hard, cruel, unrewarding.  There are seasons in life when it seems trouble is as unrelenting as the summer sun.

Last night I found the verse I put at the beginning of this post, and it was an encouragement to me.  It spoke to me that just because life is tough, we don't have to believe that our labor today is useless, or that reward never comes.  It also encourages me to do my work, make my plans, and fulfill my obligations as if nothing will ever get better, rather than cry for things that may not ever be--like the perfect, easy life.

My motto for today is, "When there is nothing else you can do, do what is in front of you."  God made today, and He arranged it this way for a reason.  Hard or easy, today is a lesson.  May I learn my lessons and be diligent in my work, so in time, I can be satisfied with the abundance my Heavenly Father gave me as a reward.

"A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied," (Proverbs 13:4 NIV 2011)

What I Tell You in the Dark: God and Secrets

"What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs" (Matthew 10:27 NIV 2011).

God and Secrets

When I read this verse, I see a clear statement that God has nothing that He wants to hide.  God has told us all about Himself and His past, present, and future intentions toward mankind in His written Word.  In fact, God didn't just tell us once; He had people write it down for posterity, so that what He had said in the past could be compared to what He is still doing.


In that area, the Bible isn't a private letter; it's more like a public, legally-binding document.


On the other hand, there are secrets that God knows, and chooses to reveal only to specific people at specific times, for His own purposes.  For instance, God chose to privately reveal to Mary and Joseph the truth about the boy they hadn't yet welcomed into the world.  He did this to comfort them, and to take away doubt and fear that Satan could put into their minds without this reassurance.  As far as I understand it, these private messages were just between them and God until they chose to share the story with Christians, years later, after Jesus was raised from the dead (Luke 2: 19).


So we see here the precedent that God makes and keeps confidences, but even those, when revealed later, are without sin or shame.  God has no "dirty little secrets," and He doesn't share things He would be embarrassed about, should they be revealed, even when He does take someone into His confidence (Matthew 12: 15-21; 16: 15-23).

People and Secrets

Meanwhile, most people have plenty of secrets that would destroy them, should they be brought out into the open.  I can remember, at one point in my life, how the words "I'm telling!" were possibly the most frightening words in the English language.  The fear originated from a clear understanding that I had something to be ashamed about, or something that made me eligible for punishment.


The problem with human secrets is that too often they are just that kind--shameful and punishable.  If all of our secrets were the kind that God demonstrated for us by His own example, we wouldn't have a thing to fear!  Instead, we choose a fear that we can't outgrow; the secrets just get bigger and uglier, and so do the repercussions. We give gossips an almost godlike power to destroy us, when they could be silenced by a pure and godly secret--because of course purity is not juicy enough for gossip.

The verse just prior to the one at the start of this post reads, "So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known" (Matthew 10: 26 NIV 2011).  No one is afraid of having a pure, good secret revealed, and those without ugly secrets are not afraid of a gossip.  I gather from this that Matthew 10: 26 is a warning that God does not protect ugly secrets, nor will He allow gossips to hold power for eternity.  The fact is, the days of evil are numbered, and one day the security that evil feels will be wrenched away by God's sense of justice.


If we have an evil secret, it is time to get rid of it, and conform our secret lives to the pattern of God.  He knows all of the truth already, and it's only a matter of time before He reveals the truth to others.  This is why the Bible advises us, "Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy" (Proverbs 28: 13 NIV 2011).

If we have evil secrets today, it is important to get rid of them before they cause us harm, as they are promised to do.  God is merciful to the repentant, and even gossips move on to better targets.  This is one thing God has told us "in the dark," but that we should "proclaim ...from the roofs": We don't have to live in fear, and we don't have to bear the burden of an ugly secret forever.  There is healing for a repentant heart.

So today I am sharing with you that great "secret" of Christianity.  Find mercy and safety from fear in Jesus' sacrifice.  Run from ugly secrets and follow His pattern of living, so that you will always be secure.  Be savvy!