We met friends at King's Inn near Rivera Beach Friday for lunch. As you know who have been there it is a premier eating place for seafood. Do not forget your billfold.
I was eating a delicious little fried oyster. Suddenly I bit something hard as a rock. Hoped I hadn't broken a tooth! Carefully, I rolled that little feller around in my mouth and then hit it again. Now all table manners were set aside as I felt around and came out with.....a pearl! It isn't a giant one or even very pretty. It lacks perfect roundness. It is a little larger than a BB, but I found a pearl! It is mine! Know what it is worth? What the market will pay. I am guessing that would be nothing!
Jesus told a parable about a pearl buyer. This merchant was looking only for fine pearls. Mine would not have caught his eye at all. He finally found THE pearl. It was the one he had dreamed of owning. It was of great value. I imagine he left something of worth to hold it with the seller. He then went home and sold EVERYTHING he had so he could buy that one pearl.
Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like that. It is of that kind of value and worth. What would you sell your kingdom home for? If you are like me you would say, "It isn't for sale!". This is the one fine pearl of life and eternity we give everything for. It's value is beyond money or power or lands. If you own that pearl you are exceptionally wealthy today. If by chance you do not, you are at this moment destitute. The pearl of great value is the Kingdom. Nothing like it.
