Pearl of Greatest Price

New Year Hope

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments 
For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Luke 11:10 NIV

As we approach New Year, I confess that over the last twelve months, most of what I hoped for, didn’t happen the way I planned, many of my best efforts turned out to be fruitless and looking ahead, I have no idea what will happen next. There is just so much I don’t know, but I do know that God is not the God of hopelessness. But in the middle of our daily battles, He challenges our faith, tests our resolve and then surprises us with grace. Here in our home, our responsibilities concerning our friend Betty who came to live with us after the hurricane in October of ’24 have grown considerably as her dementia has increased and after a minor stroke just after Thanksgiving. Nancy and I struggle along with the help and prayers of friends and several health aides who stop by throughout the week. Each day feels like slogging through a muddy field, but we have hope, though our plans for the coming year are all pretty much on hold. We have a God Who has promised to never leave or forsake, who assures us that in the valleys He will walk with us…with me…with my wife and with our friend Betty. He will keep our family. He will provide answers, and He will carry us in His arms like a shepherd! (Isaiah 40:11) What an amazing hope we have!

Too often when we read today’s verse, we fail to follow through on Luke’s fuller explanation in verses 11-14. Rather than stopping at the open door, Jesus teaches us that no father will give hurtful or dangerous gifts to his children when they ask for things like bread, a fish or an egg. Then He ends with the thought that our Heavenly Father will also give us good things: and the best of all gifts is Himself. He gives His Holy Spirit, to those who ask. What more valuable gift could we possess, who better to guide, what greater hope can we have than the Holy Spirit to lead us into tomorrow? Though it will be a New Year for us, for our Father in Heaven who stands outside of time, every moment is already written in His book. Now I ask that God will bless and keep you as He leads, protects, provides and encourages by His unfailing love and eternal grace through every one of the days ahead!

Pearl of Great Price – Day Two

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Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. Matthew 13:46

Yesterday our sister from Seeking Divine Perspective, mentioned that in the Pearl of Great Price story, Jesus is the pearl, but in the previous parable about treasure in the field, we are the treasure that Christ purchased. That was such a great insight, because Jesus gave up His life for His bride, the church.

But returning to our story, let’s look into the specific business decisions that this pearl buyer needed to take. Like an Elon Musk or a Jeff Bezos, he was no shrinking violet. He showed himself willing to risk an enormous investment in what he believed, and to do it immediately! He knew that just finding the pearl of great price didn’t give him any advantage, in fact he may have worried that others would have seen it and already be in the process of trying to buy it. So, he looked over his inventory and immediately sold everything to raise the capital he needed. Jesus shows us that God’s kingdom operates on that same principal. We not only have to choose what to sell and what to buy, but we need to move with urgency. The true Gospel is a message that will cut us to the heart and make us cry out, “What must we do to be saved?!” In the pearl merchant’s case, he needed to decide if selling all his pearls to buy just one was worth the price and then he needed to act on that decision right away. He recognized this as the opportunity of a lifetime and took action, because he believed that this one special pearl would still be of even greatest value!

Finally the pearl of great price became his. He brought it home, no longer as a prize to be pursued but as a possession to be treasured. Jesus wants us to know that the kingdom of heaven can be ours by faith! Faith is our own decision. No one can force us or choose it for us. If we will just see Jesus Christ is that greatest pearl, then no other pearl will hold our hearts.

Jesus Christ is the pearl of heaven, and everything we could ever have pales in comparison to knowing him. Though God’s gift is freely given by grace and nothing that we have could purchase it, following Jesus will mean leaving everything behind just to know Him, and having Him as the treasure of our hearts means that just as we will belong to Him so for all eternity, He will belong to us!

Pearl of Greatest Price

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 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls Matthew 13:45

 When I was a contractor, I had always been both intrigued and drawn to this story. While there are many different kinds of businesses, at the end of the day, the main point is to make a profit. But Jesus doesn’t tell us this story as some sort of training in business, He is pointing out that in our spiritual life we could learn a lot from this merchant, and that this pearl buyer had some values that Jesus wanted us to consider.

The first thing Jesus says is that the merchant was seeking beautiful pearls. His customers were not at all interested in the more common or flawed pearls that anyone could easily find. So, then for all of us comes the uncomfortable question: are we looking for second best in spiritual things? Are we just willing to settle for whatever is easiest? The old saying, “You get what you pay for,” is true in both this world as well as in God’s kingdom. In Christ we have an inheritance whose value is greater than we can imagine. Why would we sell out for lesser things, when we can find in Him the pearl of Greatest Price?