{"id":50147,"date":"2023-05-27T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/?p=50147"},"modified":"2023-05-27T02:24:47","modified_gmt":"2023-05-27T01:24:47","slug":"faith-devotion-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/2023\/05\/faith-devotion-value\/","title":{"rendered":"Value"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Matthew 13:44\u201346 \u2018When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.\u2019 (vv46)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oscar Wilde wrote, \u2018Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.\u2019 People are too materialistic to recognise something\u2019s true value.*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing at the height of \u2018The Age of Materialism\u2019, Wilde challenged the belief that nothing can exist beyond matter, something tangible rather than spiritual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disciples living in the aftershock of a material age sustained through consumerism are in danger of placing meaning and confidence in material reality alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What cannot be handled, measured, or empirically demonstrated is non-existent. Yet, Jesus commended the merchant for going in search of the unseen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We might argue that the pearl is material once found, and worth a lot of money providing the merchant with expensive material comforts in return for his risk.<\/p>\n\n\n

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But the pearl is a metaphor for Christ, reminding us that the intangible has a reality worthy of the seeker\u2019s endeavours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inner yearning we have for a greater encounter with God faces powerful pressures from a world constructed on the foundations of materialism and quantifying success, even significance, in the accumulation of wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scripture reminds us we leave this world as we entered it, empty handed (Eccl. 5:15). As Martin Luther King Jr. suggests, \u2018The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing worthwhile is easy. Your ability to overcome unfavourable situations will provide you with time to demonstrate your true strength and determination for success.\u2019**<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Prayer To Make:
<\/strong>\u2018Lord, I choose to go in search of fresh encounters with You every day. Give me eyes to see and ears to hear in my pressured life. Amen.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n