Matthew 13:45-46: “Heaven’s kingdom realm is also like a jewel merchant in search of rare pearls. When he discovered one very precious and exquisite pearl, he immediately gave up all he had for it.”
Growing up, I experienced enough disappointment and devastation that I found the best way to protect myself from the world was to encase my heart in cement. My heart turned to stone, and my mind shifted to disillusionment. I figured it was better not to hope at all rather than face the pain of my dream not coming to pass. I deduced it was better not to trust at all rather than confront the regret of having trusted the wrong person.
So I trudged through life with my heart of stone until I got to college, where God used His Word and His people to chip off the stone surrounding my heart. He revealed the gummy bear heart hidden underneath, and I did my best to let my tenderness shine, even though a toothpick could impale my exposed gelatin heart.
But just in the past year, after facing tremendous criticism for my first book, did God speak to me a new medium for the trajectory of my heart: pearl. While a pearl can be damaged with enough force, it is not vulnerable to the trolls who could bite off the gummy bear’s head with one comment. A pearl is beautiful external, but it is the pain it has forged from the inside out that makes it a treasure.
The formation of a pearl is a gradual, tedious process. Unlike other gems of stone, the pearl is produced from a living organism, an oyster, usually as the result of an injury. Typically, a pearl begins its creation when a grain of sand or the egg of a parasite invades the oyster. Then, in layers and layers it protects itself with mother of pearl, until out of great suffering it produces an object of great beauty.
If you’re alive, which you are if you’re reading this, I know you have faced some kind of injury in your life, and you’re probably facing the effects of a lie implanted in you or an insult hurled at you right now. But just because you cannot control what affronts you in this world does not mean you have to resign yourself to a the mentality helpless victim. When we surrender our hurts to the Lord, when we let his word manifest in our lives, convict us, and renew our minds, the Holy Spirit adds layers and layers of purity over the injury we thought would kill us. After years of hard work and sober conviction, we can look back to see that God made a pearl of our parasite.
And taking the analogy even further, we used to be the injury or irritant to oyster of God. The Bible says all of us have fallen short of the glory of God, and we all have sinned, earning us a fair judgment in the pit of hell. But instead of leaving us to our fate, God sent His only son to die for us, that we may not die but live in an eternity of joy with him. When Jesus’ blood poured out on Calvary, it was sufficient to cover our sins, layer by layer as we repent, until we, objects of scorn, become redemptive pearls of great value.
We are so valuable to Jesus as his pearls that he gave everything for us, as he describes in Matthew 13:45-46: “Heaven’s kingdom realm is also like a jewel merchant in search of rare pearls. When he discovered one very precious and exquisite pearl, he immediately gave up all he had for it.” He is the merchant. You are the pearl. You are redeemed. You are pure. You are worth the ultimate price. And God is making your parasites into pearls today.
by Tera Bradham
Tera Bradham is an author, speaker, podcast host, and fitness coach, but she has also been a Spanish teacher, a swimming coach, a journalist, and a travel vlogger. After growing up in Round Rock, Texas, she swam for the University of Arkansas and for Texas A&M University before heading to South America on a year of missions with the World Race. God added another plot twist to her life when she met the man of her dreams, who happened to be from Montana. She now relishes the beauty of Bozeman’s mountains each day with her husband, Jacob. Her heart’s deepest passion is for others to know her extraordinary God who makes every day a miraculous adventure. More information can be found at terabradham.com.
