What do you value most?
Jesus told a little parable about a
merchant who found a pearl of such exquisite worth that he was willing to liquidate
all his assets to raise the money to try to buy it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in
search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and
sold all that he had and bought it (Matthew 13:44-46).
What is your “pearl of great price”?
Thirty years after Jesus told that parable, the Apostle Paul
spoke of how his own values had shifted. At one time his treasures were all
about his heritage and his accomplishments.
But like my friend, his values underwent a radical change. As
he sat in chains in Rome, regarded as an enemy of the state, he had good reason
to believe he might be executed. And so he told his friends back in Philippi
what his value system had become.
Paul's life had been like a financial ledger, and over the
years he had been posting all the treasures he thought would get him closer to
God in the “gains” column.
These included his pride in being Jewish, from the tribe of
Benjamin, and being a native Hebrew speaker. And he rejoiced in his life’s
accomplishments: being a Pharisee, the “special forces” of the religious community.
His compliance with the external rules of the law was another source of pride. His
“gains” column was full of his own works, and they were what gave him meaning
and hope and self-importance.
But by the time he wrote from prison, he had moved all his
treasures, so carefully collected and hoarded over the years, from the “gains”
column to the “losses” column. And he made this stunning re-assessment of his
life and values:
