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 (NKJ)
Jesus is telling us about the kingdom of heaven. A kingdom has a king and has citizens, subjects of the king. A kingdom is not a democracy, it is not a “lets discuss whether we like this decree or not”. God’s kingdom is set up and what He says goes, agree or not.
Again Jesus is telling us something of great importance in one sentence. You are of great worth!
He is the merchant and he is seeking beautiful pearls. He goes into the marketplace and looks through the wares of the vendors. He finds a pearl of untold beauty – one of great price.
In the marketplaces in the east there is a lot of bartering and discussion of price. There are lots of opinions on what something is worth. Some saw little to no value in the pearl. Still others saw some worth, but certainly not enough to give up all that one has because there are other pearls out there of greater worth.
Everyone had an opinion but this does not sway the merchant. He looks at his pearl and knows it to be of great value. Disregarding the opinion of others, the merchant sells all he has to buy it.
The value of something is what you are willing to give up for it. In the eyes of this merchant, the pearl was equal to all he had. Therefore he sold everything to buy it.
As in the parable of the hidden treasure, this pearl of great price is you. You are worth all that God has. In Jesus, He gave up everything and became human. As a human he gave the ultimate for you – His life.
What others think of you is not important. Your opinion of yourself is not what matters. What matters is God’s view and opinion of you.
This may be difficult for us to accept because we don’t really see ourselves as valuable. But God has declared that we are valuable. He has declared this not only by His words, but by His actions and actions speak louder than words.
God has declared your worth. You are the pearl of great price! You are worth everything He had to give. One can’t give more than his very self and that is what God gave for you. You are valuable; you are of great worth.
God has declared your worth. Yet, you resist and say “yes, but I am not of worth, if you really knew me….” He does know you and no matter what you think, he has decided your worth.
The enemy does all he can to keep you from this truth. What it comes down to is surrender. Surrender to his view and opinion of you.
“Surrender – accept His acceptance of you.”
He Finds The Treasure