<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, 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\u201d (Matthew 13:45,46).<\/p>\n
IF WE HAVE ANY UNDERSTANDING OF GOD\u2019S GOODNESS, WE WILL BE GLAD TO SEEK HIM DILIGENTLY. The passion with which we seek God comes from our appreciation of His worthiness. And so Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who found \u201cone pearl of great price\u201d 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 \u201cpearl.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019t see what spiritual things are worth even when their value is obvious. We need better \u201ceyes\u201d 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 \u201cthe eyes of [their] understanding\u201d might be enlightened. They needed better vision so they could see more of \u201cthe hope of His calling\u201d and \u201cthe riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints\u201d (Ephesians 1:18).<\/p>\n
The truth of the matter is that the least of the treasures we seek in God are of much more value than the greatest of the trinkets that occupy our attention in the here and now. And this happens to be true even of the knowledge of God. When we seek to know Him, we are seeking something that is better to know than every other kind of knowledge combined. Paul was correct in his evaluation when he said that \u201cthe excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord\u201d was so great that he had been willing to \u201ccount all things loss\u201d for it (Philippians 3:8). Before our lives are done, we will have had the opportunity to \u201cbuy\u201d many things, some of great value and some of much less. But there has always been \u201cone pearl of great price,\u201d a treasure of such magnitude that it defies comparison. If we have the eyes to see even a little of its worth, we\u2019ll not complain about the diligence required to seek it. Simply said, nothing else matters more than knowing God.<\/p>\n
\u201cA scrap of knowledge about sublime things is worth more than any amount about trivialities\u201d (Thomas Aquinas).<\/p>\n
Gary Henry \u2013 WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com<\/p>\n