March 19, 2017
One Pearl of Great Price
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).
If we have any understanding of God's goodness, we will be glad to seek God diligently. The passion with which we seek God comes from our appreciation of God's worthiness. And so Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who found "one pearl of great price" and was willing to sell everything he had in order to buy that pearl. With respect to God, we will do what this merchant did if we appreciate the value of the "pearl."
Since so much depends on our recognizing the value of what can be found in God, it is important that we grow in our "appraisal" skills. If our ability to evaluate things is limited to the physical things of this world, we probably won't see what spiritual things are worth even when their value is obvious. We need better "eyes" with which to see the worth of treasures like the forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life. Thus Paul said that he prayed for the Ephesians that "the eyes of [their] understanding" might be enlightened. They needed better vision so that they could see more of "the hope of His calling" and "the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints" (Ephesians 1:18).
A scrap of knowledge about sublime things is worth more than any amount about trivialities.
...Thomas Aquinas