“…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.” (Matt. 13:45-46) Is a pearl really that valuable? Both the shape and the size of the pearls are highly important when it comes to the price of a necklace, which is why a very large South Sea pearl necklace could be valued at over $100,000. Obviously pearls are very valuable, so, how are they formed?
A foreign substance, such as a grain of sand, may find its way into an oyster and get stuck between the mantle and the shell. This irritates the mantle, to protect itself, an oyster’s natural reaction will be to cover up the irritant with layers of nacre, (nacre is lighter and stronger than concrete and equal to silicon in durability, because of the way it’s composed). This substance, usually used to create the shell, will instead form a pearl. Pearls that form organically inside of oysters are called natural pearls. Sometimes pearl harvesters will open oysters, cut small slits in the mantle and insert small irritants. The pearls produced by this method are called cultured pearls. Cultured and natural pearls are usually considered to be of equal quality. Cultured pearls are often less expensive, though, because they’re not as rare. A classic strand of white pearls can range from $100 (mostly the Freshwater pearls variety) to over $10,000 (Akoya and South Sea pearls). As I said above a very large South Sea pearl necklace could be valued at over $100,000.
God orchestrated the process for a pearl to be what it is: beginning with an irritant, resulting in a thing of wonder so that you can appreciate beauty; no free-will, no thinking, just a mechanical process. Whereas, Satan’s plan has been to layer the heart already made beautiful in an effort to turn it into a thing of ugliness before God. What a reversal! A piece of mindless, irritating sand can develop into an object of beauty while a human heart can grow extremely ugly BECAUSE OF SIN. Well, Jesus was “…despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way (because of our sin). He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for His own sins! But He was pierced for OUR REBELLION, crushed for OUR SINS. He was beaten so we COULD BE WHOLE. He was whipped so we COULD BE HEALED.” (Isa. 53:3-5)
WE MUST STAND IN AWE FOR ALL THAT JESUS DID FOR US AND WORSHIP HIM…
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham