Of Pearls And Human Hearts

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

"....man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."  1 Samuel  16:7

     For thousands of years genuine pearls commanded high prices.  Great quantities of oysters were annually examined for their hidden treasure, but only a few contained pears of real value.  Within recent times, however, the market suddenly became flooded with these sparkling orbs, and merchants began to wonder if they were being deceived by skillful imitations.  Examination revealed, however, that all the pearls were actually made by oysters.  Finally the mystery was explained.  It seemed that the Japanese merchants had found a way to cause almost every oyster to produce a bauble of loveliness.  Knowing that a sharp foreign substance lodging in the tender flesh of the lowly oyster causes it to secrete a protective fluid which hardens around the source of the irritation to form a glistening pearl, the Japanese decided to personally insert artificial irritants, such as beads and tiny bits of buckshot.  Then, carefully replacing the oysters in the ocean by means of nets, they waited until they knew the pears had been formed, at which time they simply lifted the shells to the surface again and extracted their treasures.  Wealthy patrons, becoming suspicious, insisted that the pears be subjected to special tests to see whether they were natural or "cultured."  Outwardly all were equally beautiful, but when X-rayed, some were shown to have large, false hearts of lead or glass, and as such were not "genuine."

     So it is, too, with men.  Many seem to be normally and ethically sound and even attend church faithfully; yet they have within their bosoms "false hearts."  They may fool men, but they will never deceive the X-ray keen eyes of the Great Judge when He comes to "make up His jewels."  God does not judge by outward appearances, as do men, but rather "looketh on the heart"!

     Are you a "cultured" hypocrite, or a genuine pearl?  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"  (Matthew  5:8)!

"Bread For Each Day"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lunaZQltWGY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lunaZQltWGY