WATCHWORD:
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
1 Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. John 14:1-6
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
Meditation:
Can You See God?
In a recent Bible study, one of my friends commented on something he read about Heaven, that the gates were made of a pearl of great size. I’ve thought about the parable of the man who found a Pearl of great value and he sold everything he had to buy it. Maybe the “ticket” to enter Heaven requires the same sacrifice…our everything.
That parable brought me back to my friend’s comment. When we read the Bible do we fully understand what we are being told by God? We think we understand the simile of the of the Pearl of great price and that selling everything we have is the process of being born again in Christ. As we pay the price, we go on with a new life, holding on to the hand of our Lord.
When we talk about something that is beautiful, we all have a certain mental picture of what that might be, whether it’s a waterfall, a sunset, the face of a loved one; we have a human sense of beauty. When we talk about goodness and compassion, we think we know what that means, because we’ve seen it in other people and maybe we aspire to those qualities. Then we come to that big word, truth. In today’s world truth is being redefined to the point where we’ve seemed to have lost all meaning of that word. When we come to that important phrase, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’ do we wonder, what is truth?
But what does that have to do with seeing God? Well, wherever real beauty, goodness, and truth occur they give us clues to seeing God. Each one of us could define those words but I would challenge you to visualize an absolute, concrete example of each, for each carries a glimpse of God.
We humans have a fascinating problem when we consider how the God of creation shows himself to us. We have a hard time grasping the magnitude of the Almighty. Sometimes we miss clear evidence of His presence, character, and purpose when it is displayed before our very eyes. We simply miss the moment, the act, the healing, the joy, the peace, the touch of a loved one’s hand or voice, the little things that mean so much to us, forgetting that it is God showing Himself to you and I, personally.
Recently I used the phrase, ‘quality of life comes with a cost’. That comment was directed to friends who are struggling with a decision that on one hand could inflict a high cost to the human spirit. On the other hand, going an extra ‘mile’ would allow for continued quality of life and nurture the human spirit. God is in that choice. We can see Him in those we chose to embrace.
Beauty, goodness, truth, but, friends, the greatest of all is still Love. So be it.
Closing Prayer:
Precious heavenly Father, open our eyes and allow us to see you in the glory of your universe, in the smiles of our loved ones, in the ebb and flow of our lives, in Your graces and gifts, and even the adversities that touch our lives, because in all of these You Are. With grateful hearts, Lord, and the knowledge that we are your children, help us get through this day with Your peace and the joy You provide. In the name of Jesus, amen.
