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Some people live on a budget. Others accumulate debt on their credit cards.
Whether rich or poor, in abundance or in need, we are all burdened by financial stresses and must decide how to spend what we have.
Timothy Keller, in his book The Prodigal God, defines the word prodigal as one having spent it all, recklessly extravagant...
In Matthew 13:45-46, we see the parable of the pearl of great price or value. We don’t know the financial condition of the merchant in search of fine pearls. We don’t know how many nice pearls he had found previously.
What we do know is that when he found this one pearl, he went and sold everything he had in order to buy it. He sacrificed it all for the one.
God sacrificed his one and only Son—he paid the ultimate price, that we might be his.
What are you willing to sacrifice in order to be his disciple (Luke 14:33)? The widow gave her last two coins (Luke 21:1-4).
This kind of financial practice seems foolish to the world, but we recognize it as wise spending.
God sees you as the pearl of great price. Do you see him in the same way?
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Advice is not always appreciated. We don’t always want to hear it and when it’s our turn to give it, our advice is sometimes not well received by others.
An unwelcomed pearl of wisdom reminds me of Jesus’ warning to not cast pearls before swine (Matt. 7:6). I am not saying that people are pigs. Nor am I saying that we should never offer advice. But how we offer it is important.
Ephesians 4:15 reminds us to speak the truth in love. Our attitude matters in offering pearls of wisdom. But we have no control over how it is received, which takes me to the story of the watchman on the tower in Ezekiel 3 and again in chapter 33.
If we compare the watchman’s warnings to our pearls of wisdom, we can glean some insight on how we should handle unheeded warnings.
The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, 4 then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head. 5 Since they heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, their blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’ (Ezekiel 33:1-6)
What do you understand from this story as it applies to sharing pearls of wisdom?