From Ben – 28 August 2016
I read an article in the Herald this week about a fisherman in the Philippines who went out on his boat fishing. When he tried to pull in his anchor he found it was stuck. As he was in shallow water he dived down and freed the anchor. On retrieving it he found that something that looked like a piece of coral was wedged in the anchor.
He took the coral home and it served as a good luck charm under his bed for 10 years. When he moved to a new home he gave it to his aunt who worked at the Government tourism office. She handed it over and discovered that it has been recognised as the biggest pearl ever found with a weight of 34kg, 30cm x67cm, worth $100 million US.
As I read this story I could not help but think of the parable in Matthew 13 that speaks of a trader selling everything he ever owned to buy a great pearl. The purpose of the parable is to show that Jesus is the pearl of great value and to follow him you need to be willing to give up everything.
Sadly, many people are just like that fisherman. They do not recognise the true value of him who is the pearl of great value, Jesus Christ. They live knowing he is there, but not responding to him in any way.