The Pearl of Great Price

In Matthew, Jesus is explaining the kingdom and its value. He shares the parable of the pearl of great price, this “very precious pearl,” worth disposing of everything else in order to obtain it. This ideal, perfect jewel is the Christ within us, forming the kingdom of God in the His Body of believers. The kingdom is not a literal place to be found externally. Jesus was very clear about this:

“Now He was questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, and He answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with signs that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.’”

And He said to the disciples, ‘The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look there,’ or, ‘Look here!’ Do not leave, and do not run after them.’" Luke 17:21-22 NASB

Now, more than ever in such days of worsening trouble and turmoil in the earth, Jesus continues to say that He is here. He is right here, right now, ever within us. He never fails nor forsakes us. His kingdom is a spiritually attainable place of dwelling with Him. His kingdom is not seen in terrestrial signs of prosperity, wealth, or goodness. This is a kingdom of peace, love and joy, the very most precious of heart qualities of great price to purchase.

God’s presence is purging out such contaminations as judgment, religious rules about eating or drinking, external behaviors that discount or ignore the heart issues He makes top priority. We desire to speak the word of God to others, to share His truth and wisdom. But when we do so with the wrong attitude of heart, with judgment or condemnation, with pride or ego, or even with fear, this is what offends, creatiing stumbling blocks and snares in others.

Here it is particularly spoken to all brothers and sisters in Christ, with an attitude of compassion and love which gives understanding to the listener:

“Therefore let’s not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this: not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s or sister’s way. I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to the one who thinks something is unclean, to that person it is unclean.

For if because of food your brother or sister is hurt, you are no longer walking in accordance with love. Do not destroy with your choice of food that person for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil;

for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ” Romans 14:13-17 NASB

It really is about these qualities of the heart as birthed by the spirit. Oh, if we all could truly hear this so that our judgment, our religious rules are not the primary display of our Christianity! The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the holy spirit working within. Yes there is right living to be seen, along with peace and joy, embedded in the God of love. These qualities do not cause others to stumble or to be snared by false beliefs and representations of our Lord.

Such are the qualities of the Christ within, the “ideal pearl” of His kingdom which He fully represents. God does everything purposefully, including the careful choice of the words Jesus spoke in His earthly ministry. He only spoke what the Father gave Him, so the parable of the pearl of great price is God’s word. What can we learn from how a pearl forms within the oyster? What is the deeper understanding we can gain from this metaphor for the kingdom within?

“Pearls are made by marine oysters and freshwater mussels as a natural defence against an irritant such as a parasite entering their shell or damage to their fragile body. The oyster or mussel slowly secretes layers of aragonite and conchiolin, materials that also make up its shell.” (Natural History Museum).

A short video clip from NatGeoWild further edifies us:

“Any mollusk with a shell can produce pearls, but the best come from oysters… A substance called nacre, the same that forms the inside of the oyster, covers any irritant, creating a most beautiful pearl after several years. This substance is both lighter and stronger than concrete!

Even the scientists call this miraculous! The irritant can be a tiny organism that disrupts the natural growth of the inner shell.

Just so, Father God allows the irritants of adversity to bring about the kingdom within us. Satan may initiate but God turns it for our good, for the inner growth of His character inside of us. Such pearls come from pure waters, not polluted by man. Do you catch that parallel in the spirit? The most rare and costly pearls occur in pure waters, with only 1 in 10,000 of the most valuable pearls formed by oysters produced. It takes a long time, many workings within that pearl to truly cover the irritant or intruder with mother of pearl, forming the most beautiful and highly valued jewel of all.

Now we see the parallel of how long it takes for us to overcome the irritants and intruders into our hearts, robbing us of peace, love, and joy. Now we see more clearly of what the Father is speaking when Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is the pearl of great price. It is costly, it must be prioritized and protected, allowed to grow up into Him. Jesus Christ Himself is the Ideal Pearl, a planting of the kingdom within us. His purpose is to make us like Him, overlaying our nature of flesh with His precious iridescent covering of love, peace and joy, luminescent for all to see.

Catch this key point: it’s the irritants that form the pearl! Anything that irritates us, anything that disrupts our pure growth, is creating this Pearl! Adversity brings growth, yet how difficult it can be to endure what He allows to come into our lives as we desire to become more like Him. One of the things that has to go is judgment of others and my particular challenge is the judgment I have for others who are judgmental!

After all, it’s a matter of the heart within all of us. Why do humans judge one another—sometimes mildly or not verbalized, other times viciously and loudly with words and attitudes that hurt our fellow man, let alone our brothers and sisters in Christ. What is the judgment that the Lord desires to purge from us so that we do not cause a snare or a stumbling block for others in finding their way to God?

Here’s a sample of common judgmental thoughts and attitudes that may rise up within, needing to be purged by God’s holy spirit: “Why can’t they see the truth? How can they be so blind? We must chastise and challenge them for not meeting the righteous standard set by the Word. How can they do that [name a sin that we don’t understand or could ever imagine doing]? What a disgusting person to [name sinful behavior such as drunkenness or fleshly entertainment or sexual immorality or…]?”

In such areas of the heart, we may be very right in the truth but very wrong in the judgment and condemnation of others. It is truth in love, not one or the other. When God allows us to see within the heart of mankind, we see the wounds that create such behavior, the lack of knowing the Lord as we know Him.

God has chastised me before for “beating a blind man,” when I continued to challenge an unbeliever in my life. Oh, I wanted him to change for himself and for me, but the way I was going about it certainly did not draw him to Christ. That is the Father’s job and only He knows whether this was accomplished before this person’s death. To put it bluntly:

““Do not judge, so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the log is in your own eye?

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye! Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.’” Matthew 7:1-6 NASB

These words spoken by our Lord are carefully chosen by God to teach us, bringing us into all truth. When we throw righteous principles before unbelievers, we may be wasting our precious holy words on “dogs or pigs” who will eat anything. We all do it with believers as well, seeing the mote in another while ignoring the beam in our own. The mote in their eye that we see may be their failure to follow the rules of our religion. But the beam in our eye, coming from our heart, is the judgment, the condemnation we have for others who don’t know the way or refuse the truth.

Holy things are not for dogs, representative of those who will bite and devour one another over a scrap and follow anyone who will feed them. We are not to cast our pearls of wisdom in front of hogs, a powerful metaphor for those of us who know about them. Hogs will eat anything without discrimination, lacking discernment of what is precious and what is vile. When we are not being led by the spirit, we are sharing our pearls of godly wisdom with those who are unable to receive it.

Others’ hearts must be prepared, just like the fields that are plowed to receive a planting for growth. How many words we can waste with those not prepared or even called (yet) to hear them! It is so important to be taught of the Lord what to speak and when to speak it. And it is so very hard when we truly do have so much to say!

“Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God.

For God is in heaven and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.” Ecclesiastes 5:2 KJV

We are to be neither rash nor hasty to utter anything before God. Everything we say and do is before Him. Strong’s translates to be “rash” is “to be alarmed or agitated, to hasten anxiously, be dismayed, to make haste be speedy, thrust out, trouble, vex,” with “making haste” similarly clarified in the original Hebrew. This truth appears in many places in His word:

“Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues.” Proverbs 10:19 KJV

“The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.” Proverbs 15:4 KJV

“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” James 1:18-19 KJV

Those of us gifted with many words easily said (like me) need the holy spirit to continually cut back on our unnecessary, untimely, ineffective—and yes, useless—flood of words. How often when faced with opposition, our words multiply while our hearts become contaminated with agitation, fear, and anger. We miss the mark with perverse, distorted, even vicious words from our mouths, crushing the spirit of those we are to elevate and educate.

And how sad when this happens with little ones we are raising. Children truly do not know to do right and often have not the spiritual or physical development to follow through. This type of parental tongue has crushed many a child’s spirit, while attempting to correct and teach. It’s the self-will that needs to be crushed by loving godly discipline, not that precious spirit within that God created and nurtures in little ones.

We also can crush the spirit of babes in Christ and unbelievers when they miss the mark. Sin is when we know to do right and don’t do it, translated as “missing the mark.” How many religious words have been spoken through the centuries and how much has the world changed because of speaking to those who lack the wisdom and maturity to know what is right in God, let alone be able to do it?

Jesus changed the world with His words, yet the hearts of mankind are slow to hear, believe, and understand Him, to walk in His ways. Those of us who desire before God for others to see the Christ within us long for the day when the fruit of His kingdom will be seen in us. That is when this Pearl of great price completely overlays our fleshly nature with His essence of love, the most powerful force in the universe.

God delivered a powerful and humbling lesson about this to me when I asked the Lord to truly stop me from saying anything that was not led by Him. I am well known as a talker so this is a long confessed need for change that I hold before the Lord. I so desire a conversation with others that does not bring regret afterward. It’s not necessarily inappropriate or gross things so much as unnecessary chatter, unimportant information, words that I want to say but the listener does not need to hear.

God answered this sincere prayer of my heart in a recent visit from our son. He granted deep peace while I hardly said anything over the few hours we were all together. I was amazed at myself and knew it was His intervention. It was a humbling lesson in how often I have uttered wasted, “rash” words my wandering, undisciplined mind has said. It wasn’t my time to be heard, to be contributing, even spiritually, to this conversation. Amazingly, I sat quietly and prayed, loving the peace and rest I felt, being led of His spirit rather than my own flesh. And no regrets afterword!

Yes, the Lord gifted me with words resulting in a calling that led to teaching, training, and assistance for others in the mental health profession. I have been most blessed through the many years of my career, but what was used requires ongoing refinement for personal growth. I do not desire more regret from having offended people I care about with too many words, spoken in haste, while ignoring guile in my heart. I do not desire to be careless so that I cause others offense or pain. Along with Jabez, I am most serious about this:

“And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, ‘Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!’ So God granted him what he requested.” 1 Chronicles 4:10 NKJV

I desire to enter in to His kingdom with all my brothers and sisters in Christ. I desire to be an avenue for others to enter in as well, don’t you? Who among us in the Body of Christ has not tasted of the Lord’s graciousness, His “kindness,” as the Concordant Literal states. Even the challenge to speak only what He speaks, like our Lord Jesus Christ, shows forth His kindness toward me more than any public chastisement, much less condemnation.

He corrects us in private, with Him, redirecting us kindly to His ways rather than ours. When there has been offense, He allows repair along with forgiveness. Often He is the only one who knows, as mankind does not set the same standard that the pearl of great price illustrates. Others may think many things Christians struggle with along our path of life are no big deal. God thinks the inner issues are the biggest deal, the inner workings of the heart. Peter said:

“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” 1-3 KJV

Oh how we miss this in our love affair with church rules and regulations, the outer forms of religion, the establishment of external laws, instead of the condition of our hearts! From beginning to end, God’s word speaks of the heart, how deceitful it is, how He is the only one Who sees our hearts clearly, while none of us can truly see our own. We miss the mark over and over, yet He knows our desire to be righteous, to please Him Who is our life.

Only the holy spirit can illuminate what we need to see about our own hearts and He does this so very kindly and graciously. He knows we are “but dust,” unable in any way to purify our hearts without yielding to His spirit.

“As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He is mindful that we are dust.” Psalms 103:13-14 Berean

Thankfully, Jesus Christ is intent on having a church without spot or wrinkle, hearts with no guile, brothers and sisters who are made into His image and likeness so the world will finally know Him, as Paul says, in the power of His resurrection as we share in His sufferings.

Here is the way of wise words leading others to understand the call, come up to the heights, to meet with others while staying on track. Then we are partakers of that “Pearl of great price” that is worth letting go of everything else. Then we are enabled to share God’s chosen words within us as pearls of His wisdom, formed within by Him and shining out to others:

“Does not wisdom call, and understanding raise her voice? On top of the heights beside the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; Beside the gates, at the opening to the city, at the entrance of the doors, she cries out:

‘To you, people, I call, and my voice is to mankind. You naive ones, understand prudence; and, you fools, understand wisdom! Listen, for I will speak noble things; and the opening of my lips will reveal right things. For my mouth will proclaim truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing crooked or perverted in them. They are all straightforward to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge.” Proverbs 8:1-9 NASB

Is this not our strongest desire? This is what God sees in our deepest heart, that we want to be like Him, to please our heavenly Father, to cause no offense to His holy spirit, to truly have hearts pure, holy and without guile. This is why Solomon said how important wisdom and understanding is rather than knowledge alone.

“Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not abandon her, and she will guard you; love her, and she will watch over you.

The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; and with all your possessions, acquire understanding.

Prize her, and she will exalt you; ahe will honor you if you embrace her. Ahe will place on your head a garland of grace; she will present you with a crown of beauty.” Proverbs 4:5-9 NASB

We follow on to know the Lord, seeking the wisdom of His kingdom so we will truly have His heart replacing our stony heart of flesh. Then we are able to forget the past, having no regrets about the words that come out of our mouths, because He has purified them, overlaying them with the precious Pearl of great price that is His nature. We overcome this flesh and all its ways, including wordy ways, through Him. He has done everything for us. making the way and showing us the path of life.

Then we can be a living example of those able to obtain this precious jewel worked within from all life’s irritants that come our way. We are enabled to speak an “apt” word, one that communicates what God wants to say. His word always accomplishes what He sent it to do. There is no lack, no failure in Him. What is not done yet He has allowed, what is done is only by the power and authority of His word of truth spoken as fully centered into His nature of love.

Proverbs speaks to what is precious, words that are most pleasing to Him, effectively used by His servants to change the lives of others. Let us celebrate every irritant that is created within us, knowing that we shall be covered over by His nature as we submit to His ways in dealing with it. We are growing ever closer to having a precious word that is a gift, even in reproof, to others!

“Apricots of gold in pictures of silver is a word on its aptly spoken.

A pendant of gold and an eardrop of certified gold is the reproof of a wise man upon a hearkening ear.” Proverbs 25:11-12 Concordant Literal