The One Pearl of Great Price<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls.
\nWho when he found One Pearl of Great Price, went and sold all that he had
\nand bought it\u201d
\nMatt. 13:45-46
\nOver the years men collect a jewelry box full of pearls. In one drawer
\nthey keep the pearls of \u201cgood works\u201d. These pearls come in various sizes
\nand shapes.. depending on the sacrifice they made for them. Some were given
\nto them by the people they helped\u2026but most of them they awarded to
\nthemselves. So many men are hoping to trade with God their valuable little
\npearls\u2026in exchange for eternal life. The problem is these pearls are
\nstrung together on the rotting thread of self-righteousness. When tried by
\nfire in the day of judgment this thread will break and all the pearls will
\nbe lost forever. Their value is only in our imagination, for the scripture
\nsays: All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and that which is highly
\nesteemed among men is an abomination to God.
\nAnother drawer is full of equally worthless pearls\u2026the pearls of
\n\u201creligious experience\u201d. These pearls are all polished to a brilliant shine
\nby constant handling. They are often taken out to admire\u2026especially in
\ntimes of doubt. There is the pearl of warm feelings and emotions
\nexperienced at a time of past religious dedications. There is the pearl of
\nverses memorized, and doctrines learned. There is the pearl of baptism,
\nchurch membership, and faithful attendance. These gaudy trinkets are often
\ntaken out and worn in public by their owners to impress other men with their
\nknowledge of God. Like the dangling phylacteries off the robes of the
\nPharisees these pearls are used to intimidate the less spiritual. To those
\nwho posses the One Pearl of great price, these people look as foolish as a
\nsenile old lady overdressed with cheap outdated costume jewelry. One says;
\n\u2018But my mother and father gave me these pearls. Why they have been in the
\nfamily for generations. They have very great sentimental value. They\u2019re
\nheirlooms. What will my family say if I get rid of them?\u2019
\nDare we open another drawer? Here we find a collection of pearls that have
\ngreat value in this world, but like the others are worthless in the next.
\nHere are the pearls of \u201cworldly pleasure, popularity, power, and
\npossessions\u201d. Thy give great contentment to the flesh. They indulge the old
\nman with much enjoyment, but he can never get enough of them. In the end,
\nthey addict him to the world so that he becomes unconscious to the Spirit of
\nGod and has no interest in the One Pearl of Great Price
\nAll these pearls must be sold to posses the One Pearl of Great Price. You
\ncan not wear the One Pearl of Great Price even as a center piece around
\nwhich other jewels are enhanced. No, it will be owned and displayed as a
\nsolitaire, or it will not be worn at all. This pearl can not be the \u201ccenter\u201d
\nof attention. Oh no. He must get \u201call\u201d the attention. The wise merchant
\ngladly sells all he has to buy the One Pearl of Great Price.
\nGreg Elmquist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The One Pearl of Great Price \u201cThe kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls. Who when he found One Pearl of Great Price, went and sold all that he had and bought it\u201d Matt. 13:45-46 Over the years men collect a jewelry box full of pearls. In one drawer they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,61,72,68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-greg-elmquist","category-believers-assurance","category-christ-and-his-church","category-christ-his-person-and-excellencies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4862"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4863,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4862\/revisions\/4863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}