A Pearl of Great Price

A beautiful analogy in the book I was reading by a favorite author, Tessa Afshar, moved me to joyful tears. The protagonist found her lost pearl earring and, in so doing, was finally able to grasp the full meaning of God's forgiveness. Just as the love for her earring had not been diminished by the dirt in which it lay, the forgiveness of God trumped, mitigated, and completely did away with the myriad regrets she struggled with over her past. Freedom came from the realization that our past is no barrier to His love. With God's forgiveness, we can, miraculously, kiss our regrets goodbye.

Because the analogy in the novel was based on a pearl, it brought to mind Jesus' parable about the beautiful pearl of such great value that the merchant in the Bible story willingly sold everything he had in order to buy it (Matthew 13:45-46). In Jesus' parable, the pearl represents the Kingdom of Heaven, a treasure worth any sacrifice to us who walk this earth. His Kingdom is our pearl of great price.

Could God Himself have such a valuable treasure? First Peter 2:9-10 tells us, "But ye are a chosen generation a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light; which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." With the precious blood of the Lamb of God He has ransomed us. By giving His all for us, He has brought us into His family. Just as His kingdom is our pearl of great price, by His great sacrificial love He has shown us that we are His magnificent treasure. And because He loves us so much, when we come to Him in repentance, He casts all our sins "into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19) to remember them no more (Hebrews 8:12). All those regrets that torture our soul and mind? Gone. And if He no longer remembers our sins, who are we to hang on to them? Do we think ourselves greater than God?

The fact is, who doesn't have regrets about things they could have done, or done better, or should have done? But Paul did not say, "Keep remembering all the bad things you did that were a barrier between you and Christ." No. He says, "This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14).

Like Dennis is fond of reminding me, "If we keep looking behind us, sooner or later we'll run into a tree." To be successful in our walk with Jesus, we have to face forward, our eyes on Him and what is to come. There is nothing to be gained by wallowing in the regrets of the past. They are nothing but weights that bind us to despair, unforgiveness, bitterness, and every bad thing.

Can't seem to shake those regrets off? Paul gives us the prescription for that: "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:1-2). We have been called to be more than mere natural creatures of this earth, elephants doomed to remember the detritus of every sin and setback littering our past. Instead we have been called to walk a step above, as it were, to walk as spiritual beings in the spirit realm (1 Corinthians 2:14-15).

As we step on the threshold of a new calendar year, let's purpose to leave the past, with all its muddy regrets, behind. There can be no joy or progress holding on to them. Instead, let's embrace the future, and with it, all that God has for us. The world around us teems with chaos, war, and discouraging news. Yes, we need to pray about the darkness. We are the light of world. But our past should not bind us to pain. Let us shake those shackles off and step into the joy of the Lord. In worship, in prayer, focusing on Him, we stand at the portal of great things spiritually. Our New Year, with Jesus, will be a blessed one.

"... thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee..." (Isaiah 43:4).

"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loves us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:37-39).