This morning as I was doing my reading, now a wide range of inputs from scripture to Facebook, I came across a fact that began to carry my thoughts: pearls dissolve in vinegar. Pearls seem to represent personal value, as in “pearl of great price” and “do not cast your pearls before swine.” Vinegar, on the other hand, represents the corrosive stuff that can build up over time, devaluing your life impact.
I believe that God knows each of us by name, and as Jesus put it, the very hairs on our head are numbered by Him. I believe He has spoken purpose into each of our lives, possibly spending time with each of us in our mother’s womb? That voice, that pearl, we must pursue at all cost.
Relinquishing that pearl or offering it up in some exchange for some other seductive identity is the ultimate transgression; for in that barter, the world that you would otherwise impact suffers irreplaceable loss, and somehow it would seem that providence is hindered. That’s how important your personal life contribution is to this globe.
God became flesh and dwelt among us that we might know His love and enjoy His constant presence. He sovereignly compresses our life circumstances and through that sometimes brutal pressure crafts your pearl of great price; not a price that we must pay, but one which He has already paid in full.
What then is our part? We must never give up nor give in!
Great people are usually non-conformists, their “irritation” a critical factor in the development of other pearls. By grace, we endure hardship and at times great pain, but we never relinquish the pearl, nor cast it aside by conforming to the expectations of others; even, when that seems necessary to achieve the dream or we are tempted to comply for convenience and comfort’s sake.
In fact, it may even be one’s resistance to conformity that delivers the true value of their pearl; their courage compounding a more efficient transformation of those engaged around them.
Vinegar is an attitudinal corrosion that may also develop simultaneously, if we resist or fail to adjust our temperament. That pool of resistance can build over time and the very pearl that floats deep in our soul be eroded, before its critical value can be delivered upon.