From time to time, we hear of someone purchasing something from someone else that is very valuable. The buyer recognizes the value, but the seller seemingly was oblivious to what he or she had. Could that happen to us on a spiritual level? Do we recognize the great value of the gems of truth that we receive from God?
Having just come through the spring Holy Days, we have been gifted with truth that came at the price of Christ’s blood. We have received truth that can give us strength, hope, and peace in the darkest of days to come. That is priceless! In the parable of “The Pearl of Great Price,” Christ shows us the principle we need to live by. “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). The principle is that we must value each pearl of truth, wisdom, and understanding as though willing to let go of all else in order to keep it forever.
How can we know if we truly value what we have been given? How can we know if we have really “bought” the pearls put before us? The Apostle James wrote, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:22-25). Very simply, we can know for certain what it is we truly value by what we do with it.
Doers are those who will endure to the end — whenever that might be and however it might come. Christ said, “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock” (Luke 6:47-48).
Valuing and living by the pearls we’ve been given is analogous to having our spiritual foundation laid solidly on Christ – the Rock. We can be sure that there will be violent storms to come in this present dispensation. However, those — the doers — who have truly bought the truths God has given us will have the strength, hope, and peace in these trying times to thrive spiritually.
Marshall Stiver
