I don’t own a whole lot of jewelry.  Overall, I’m not that protective of any of it.  Except for one piece that I safeguard–my great-grandmother’s pearls.

It takes quite a bit of time for a pearl to form.  Despite the fact that any mollusk that has a hard shell can produce a pearl, they occur infrequently in nature with odds that hover around 1 in 10,000.  Even with farm-raised pearls, it takes anywhere from one to three years to produce one.  At the end of the day, it is no wonder pearls are prized possessions.

In Matthew 13:44, Jesus tells the disciples, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”  He continues in verses 45 and 46 to note, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.  When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”  Each of these parables points us toward the value of hidden treasure.  I was struck by how the man hid the treasure again—he safeguarded the treasure before buying the field.  No matter how old we are, we usually do all that we can to protect our valuables—often times hiding them for safekeeping.

This is exactly what Christ has done with us.  He has hidden us in himself.  As our buried treasure, Jesus had to be unearthed in order to overcome our depravity.  Our need to be found in Christ, to be restored to our Father, resulted in God choosing to sacrifice His treasure of His son.  Indeed, Christ was hidden in His father so that we could be hidden in Him.  Colossians 3:3 reminds us:  “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”  The death spoken of here is one of dying to ourselves—that we might decrease while Christ increases in us.  In short, we are pearls of great price who are hidden in Christ.

I hope that much like the David in Psalm 51:12, you have said to God, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”  Indeed, it is not a joy that comes from anything we do but instead it is a joy that flows from God’s choice to call us pearls of great price.  How wonderful it is to be hidden in Christ!