Our confidence in God, in other words, our trust in God, can only be as strong as our awareness of Him. It is life changing when we realize and truly appreciate exactly how high the price was that was paid to save us from an eternity of hell (literally). Really think about what this entailed. It cannot just be a fleeting thought. This requires knowing and trusting that Jesus is who He said he is: THE truth and the only way to God. Without seeking relationship and knowledge of Him, how can we trust what He says?
Jesus was there at the beginning. John 1:3 tells us that everything was made through Him, nothing that has been made was made without Him. So, He was there at the beginning and He was the orginal rescue plan, a plan Father, Son and Holy Spirit were united in bringing to pass. It was something they brought to pass in unity.
The price that was required of Jesus is inconceivable. And don’t think for a minute that the Father and Holy Spirit did not suffer just as cruelly when it came to pass. Imagine as a father or mother seeing your own child suffer and how heart wrenching that is. Then imagine that you could actually do something to stop the suffering but you don’t because you consider the agony and torture to be worth the thing it would result in. Unthinkable, isn’t it? You and I are worth so much!
I had always believed the parable of the pearl of great value spoken of in Matthew 13:44-46 to be about a seeker looking for truth and finding the kingdom of God and then selling everything he has to come into that Kingdom.. But I heard an interpretation of this parable that brought me to tears years ago. It suggested that the pearl of great value is actually you and me and Jesus is the Merchant seeking us. Jesus gave everything, more than we would consider humanly possible, in order to purchase us, which just means to save us. Parables undoubtably have multiple levels of meaning depending on where you are in your walk with God, but understanding that the Son of God gave everything, every drop of blood, and suffered so torturously in order to purchase you as the pearl of great value, has a depth that shows how incredible and incomprehensible God’s love for us is.
It is beyond belief how agonizing it was for God, through Jesus, to bring us back into relationship with Him. Our part is actually easy. God could not have made it any easier to come to Him. Maybe that’s the problem. Many times, we have a tendency to complicate things. How much easier could God have made it to come to Him than allowing us to simply recognize that we are sinners (not difficult to see) and ask forgiveness through faith in His son. We don’t have to physically do anything ourselves. We can’t earn our salvation. It is a free gift. Maybe that is what makes it so hard for a lot of people to receive it. We live in a society where almost everything we have has to be purchased or earned. You cannot earn this. It is freely offered and has to be freely received. There is nothing you can do to earn it. Maybe that is why the Kingdom of heaven needs to be received as a child.
