Who is the pearl?

Three years ago, when Chris was in the 6th grade, I went with him on a school field trip to Land Between the Lakes. It was a really cool experience. One of the neatest things that they did was a challenge course. A group of kids goes through this course together. They were faced with several challenges. Parents went along, but we were under strict orders not to help. The challenges were designed so that the kids had to rely on one another to complete the task. It was cool.

One night before we went to bed, we had a campfire devotional. The devotional thought was presented by Jason Miller and I thought that it was fantastic. I was reminded of it when I read a story about the guy who bought a rock (20 years ago) and it turned out to be a sapphire (so he claimed). Anyway, self esteem has always been something I struggled with. There are times when I've just felt worthless and useless. Fortunately, I've not experienced that in a while. Thoughts like the following have really helped me, so I thought I would share:

In Matthew 13 Jesus tells several 'Kingdom' parables. The first two parables are about a farmer. When he explains the parable of the weeds to his disciples in verse 37, he tells them that he is the farmer. And I believe that most of the time when we think about these parables, we consider the farmer or sower to be Jesus.

If you skip down to the Parable of the Net, you see a picture of a fisherman separating the good fish from the bad fish. Jesus tells us that the angels are the ones that are going to come on his behalf and separate the good from the bad. Essentially, he is the still the main character.

The most interesting parable that Jason mentioned is the Parable of the hidden treasure in verses 44 and 45.

44"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

45"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

I don't know if I was taught this or not, but when I think about these parables, I've usually put myself in the place of the man and the merchant. Something like, "When I find Jesus, I should give everything else up for him". There is nothing wrong with that interpretation, however, as Jason pointed out, why do we make ourselves the main character in these parables when all of the surrounding parables have Jesus as the main character? What happens when Jesus becomes the main character? We become the treasure...we become the pearl.

Do you feel that way? To be honest, I don't. Whenever I think about it, I am so humbled that it brings me to tears. He found me...and considered me to be a hidden treasure....a pearl of great price.....sold everything he had....and bought me.

Wow...great thought....