"Love Has A Price" -2

"They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God ransom for him: (for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:) that he should still live for ever, and not see corruption." (Psalms 49:6-9) As I was praying about this portion of Scripture, and relating to this the closing verses from Romans 8, I could not help but think about a certain parable that Jesus spoke of, the parable about the buried treasure and the very beautiful pearl, found in Matthew 13:44-46. Both of those parables are pretty much proclaiming the same thing, but of who was Jesus speaking? Even though I may not understand the whole picture of God's great love for us, I think I can see the beauty in what His love means to me, and how much He gave to purchase my life. Many times when Jesus spoke about the kingdom of heaven, and what the kingdom of heaven was like, He related to things that seemed to put value in the eternal and in the things that lead to the eternal, whether that might be Himself or the choices made of Him, by Him, or for Him. In particular, I am thinking of that portion of the Scripture above that is from Psalms 49:8, which says, "(for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)". We could spend hours and hours debating the logic of why God did what He did, but there is no reason whatsoever to debate the beauty of what He did, because it was the most beautiful act of love ever demonstrated upon this earth. You might think that "beauty" is a strange choice of word to describe the horror of what Jesus went through; but according to the Father's eye, we were that "treasure in the field"; we were that "very beautiful pearl". Ponder that as you think of the price that comes with love... "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it." (Matthew 13:44-46)