Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Psalms 36-38
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 13:45-46
Jesus: Or the kingdom of heaven is like a jeweler on the lookout for the finest pearls. When he found a pearl more beautiful and valuable than any jewel he had ever seen, the jeweler sold all he had and bought that pearl, his pearl of great price.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
We might associate a little better with Jesus’ parable under consideration today. Some that we’ve talked about the last few days are a little distant from our common understanding, but today we talk about jewels. We see jewelry everyday, so maybe we can understand this one better. Although we don’t see real pearls often, mostly costume or artificially cultured pearls, we still equate precious stones and jewelry with wealth and precious treasure a little more than some of Jesus’ previous examples of what heaven might be like.
Pearls were not so common in Jesus’ day. They didn’t culture them the way we do today. They didn’t have diving equipment like we have. Anyone who found pearls found them by accident and they were rare. Then to get enough of them to make a bracelet or necklace and large enough to drill holes in them without power tools, well, you can imagine the price. But since we are probably more familiar with gold, let’s use that instead of pearls since I think it carries the same message Jesus would convey today.
We’ve seen the cost of gold sky rocket over the years. When I was a kid, the price of gold was pretty stable at just over $35.00 an ounce. As I prepare this podcast, gold is $1217.23 an ounce. We sometimes talk about our weight in gold. As a kid of six or seven, I would have been worth about $1,500 in gold. Today, I’d be worth almost $3.5 million. Quite a difference in both weight and worth through the years, I guess. In any event, gold has increased in value almost 3500%. What does that really mean? It means if you had $100 worth of gold 50 years ago, it would be worth $350,000 today. Not a bad return on your money.
So here again, we have a wise jeweler looking for something of great value. Precious stones pass through his hands every day. He knew when he was looking at something of value. So when this one jewel came into his possession, he knew he had to have it. Like the man who sold everything to buy the field with the treasure in it, the jeweler, knew he must do anything to get that pearl. He sold everything he had to buy that pearl.
So I was thinking about Jesus’ heaven is like a pearl, and thought about a few things in comparison to valuable jewels. Heaven is rare. We think in terms of a few begin rare. We look for those few rare coins as a coin collector. Or those few rare painting by some great artist. Or those few rare moments that stir our hearts and bring warm memories. We can name a lot of rare things if we think about it. But talk about rare. There is only only God and He has one home, heaven. There is only one heaven. If there is only one of something, that by definition makes it rare.
Heaven is valuable. It is worth giving up everything. The writers of the books of New Testament tell us that over and over as they share the message of God’s good news. Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow Him. Paul says we must die to self so we may live in Christ. The early church members gave all they had to the church to share with those in need because of the persecution the church felt. Everything is His anyway, we just need to acknowledge that He owns it and give Him control of it in our lives.
The jeweler was on the lookout for that valuable jewel. He wasn’t just sitting around. He spied out the things that passed through his hands and was looking for something worth his time and effort. He knew there was one special jewel out there that was worth everything and when he saw it, he wanted it. Heaven it like that. If we look for the very best there is to find, we will find Jesus. We will find heaven.
If we never look, though, we’ll never find heaven. If we keep our eyes closed to the truth, heaven will pass us by. If we refuse to do what is necessary to obtain it, it will be beyond our reach. Heaven is worth it. It is beautiful, valuable, rare, and precious. The parable of the pearl helps to teach us just how rich and wonderful it is. But like the jeweler looking for the pearl, we must look for heaven and then commit everything we have and everything we are to finding it. God accepts nothing less. After all, He gave His life for us.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.