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The Most Valuable Pearl

by Jerry Ousley  
8/15/2014 / Christian Living

In Matthew 13:45-46 Jesus tells the story of a pearl merchant. This man apparently spent his life looking for valuable pearls. According to the parable, he had accumulated a great wealth of the precious gemstones.

In Biblical times all pearls were what are called "natural pearls." They are very rare and are formed when a microscopic object becomes imbedded in a clam or other mollusk creature. This object becomes an irritant and a coating begins to form around it. Over time layers of this coating build up. The mollusk has to be killed in order to retrieve the pearl and a great many paid with their lives in order to find one natural pearl. Now-a-days most pearls on the market are cultivated on pearl farms. An irritant is purposely placed in the mollusk and harvested when it gets to the right size. It isn't as valuable as a natural pearl and you can see why.

We are not told whether the pearl merchant simply shopped for his pearls or if he hunted them himself. Either way, he knew his business.

One day he discovered a pearl described by Jesus as a "pearl of great price." It was the most valuable pearl the merchant had ever seen. He had to have that pearl. We are told that he sold his entire collection to raise the money to buy this one pearl.

In our own business of life we are looking for that "pearl of great price." It may not be a gemstone or a precious metal but whatever our interest may be, it is the mother-load we have been looking for.

I've never been much of a collector. At one time in my life I collected stamps and had a fairly good collection. When I lost interest in it I sold it for nearly nothing. My interests had changed and it no longer meant that much to me. It was a bad decision because I lost big-time on the deal. Of course the guy who made the near nothing purchase was probably happy about it. I do have a fair collection of books, albeit most are electronic. I have around one hundred hard copy books but I have thousands of electronic books. I do have one old book. I don't know if it has any value or not. It is "The Achievements of Prayer" and is a collection of scriptures put together by Joseph Fincher in 1828. Mine is a second edition and someone has written a date inside the front cover of 1855. The book isn't in very good shape but I wouldn't take anything for it (let me rephrase that; I guess the right price might cause me to part with it). That's about the extent of my collection.

We are looking at five precious gems in the Bible. The Pearl of Great Price is the second. Jesus used this in comparison of the Kingdom of Heaven. He said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like then He told the story of the pearl merchant.

We are all on the hunt for something in life. We are all searching for our place our purpose. Many have come to know that our search, our dissatisfaction and unrest is the result of a natural desire in each of us to be restored to God. Millions won't acknowledge that and will even disclaim it. But the fact remains that nothing fulfills us like coming to know God and to be in fellowship with Him. Once we have discovered what it is we are looking for then everything else seems to pale in its shadow. This relationship with God becomes our quest in life and to discover the Kingdom of God and to become a part of it is certainly worth giving up everything else. When we know the value of it, the peace of it, and the joy of being a part of God's Kingdom, then nothing less will satisfy us. And that's how it should be.

Have you found the pearl of great price? You can. Though it may be rare, membership is free. But it will require you to put it first and above everything else in your life. But that isn't such a hard thing once you know its value.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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