From the Pastor's Desk . . . .
Precious Pearl
In the first message that Jeremiah preached, he challenged the people’s foolish exchange of a loving, nourishing, intimate relationship with God for an enslaving, diminishing love relationship with idols: “Thus says the LORD: “What wrong did your fathers find in Me that they went far from Me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless” (Jeremiah 2:5)?
Throughout the book of Jeremiah, whenever he mentioned idols, he usually described them as “worthless.” Why would he do that? Perhaps because his audience saw their foreign gods as valuable, something worth giving themselves to. So Jeremiah sought to set them straight: “They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish. Not like these is He who is the portion of Jacob, for He is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; the LORD of hosts is His name” (Jeremiah 10:15-16).
The people of Jesus’ day still struggled with seeing the true worth of things. God stood in their midst, yet they didn’t recognize Him or value Him. Jesus told them a parable to open their eyes to His worth. “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” (Matthew 13:45-46).
The fact that Jesus used a pearl to express value is interesting because the Hebrews did not see pearls as precious or valuable. Yet the merchant in his story found the pearl so magnificent, so valuable, that it was worth selling everything he owned so that he could buy it.
Most people of Jesus’ day never came to see His inestimable worth. But some did. Paul wrote: “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him” (Philippians 3:8-9). And one day everyone will see His marvelous worth. Revelation 5:12 describes that day when all will sing in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”
By Pastor Edwards
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