Buy the Field, Get the Pearl!

Here’s a true story for us. For years, a giant, ugly, plaster Buddha sat in the middle of Thailand's capital city, Bangkok. Visitors put empty soda cans and other trash on it. Then one day, a priest decided to take the old statue to his temple. In the moving process, it cracked. As the pieces crumbled, the priest noticed something underneath the plaster shell. He gathered some helpers, and they chiseled the shell away, and inside they found the world’s largest chunk of sculptured gold, and a Buddha standing 10 feet high. It was there for years, but no one knew it.  

Sometimes packaging can hide the item (or person) on the inside, as in the case of the gold Buddha. I grew up around Phoenix in an area well known for a shopping center named Christown Mall. I often saw Chris dressed so poorly at his farm that you would have thought he was the poorest man on earth. The old farmhouse that Chris lived in was as scruffy-looking as Chris. 

There is a saying that it’s not wise to judge a book by its cover. I would add that it’s not wise to judge a book by its movie. Many times, people and things are not as they first appear. Chris, as it turns out, was among the wisest and wealthiest people in the area. He sold some of his farmland to developers, who named a large shopping center after Chris. Thus, the name Christown. The authentic Chris was always there, but no one knew it. Why? No one could see it. 

Sometimes, hurt, shaping events, and others' opinions have covered people of gold with ugly plaster. Remember, the person is the gift, not the package. Real worth must be discerned, and false worth must also be discerned. Let God and time reveal who the real person or thing is.

The greatest gifts are often people who need time and life to break the plaster shells off of them like that gold Buddha. They are only waiting for their moment to arrive. Is there a scripture that shows us this concept? Absolutely, and it’s an excellent concept that can improve your life. “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells everything that he has and buys that field.” Matthew 13:44

Do you see the principle here? We must buy the field to get the treasure. Or, better said in the next verse, sometimes you must buy the field to get the hidden treasure of a pearl. Let me illustrate this ‘buy the field to get the pearl’ principle with a real-life example in my singles ministry years ago at Northwest Community Church in Phoenix.

One of our singles, a free-spirited Christian surfer girl from California, was driving on Thunderbird Road near 11^th Avenue and saw a scruffy-looking guy along the side of the road. Always ready to share Jesus and help people, she parked her car to meet him. She discovered that he lived in a large drainage pipe under Thunderbird Avenue with a few belongings and his bicycle. She invited him to come to our singles ministry.

So, Matt started coming to our singles meetings. We could see that Matt would be a work in progress, just like we were at one time, but there was something special about him. Yes, Matt made many mistakes and missteps, but he had a heart of gold for God. But the longer he hung in there, the more the plaster fell off, and what was in him began to reveal itself. 

As a singles ministry, we had to buy the old Matt's field (the Matt who felt he was the black sheep of his family) to get the pearl inside the new Matt. We were stunned and overjoyed as the hidden treasure inside Matt soon revealed itself. In a year or two, I was honored to marry Matt to Jenny, a single woman in our ministry.

Now, let me tell you about Jenny. She entered our singles ministry dressed in hippie garb and round hippie glasses. Small in stature, she was as quiet as a mouse. But there was something special in her; you could sense it. And, just like Matt, she was like that gold Buddha. Soon, Jenny's authentic self began to emerge.     

After they married, Matt and Jenny moved to Tennessee, where Jenny received a degree as a veterinarian from the University of Tennessee. She did her post-graduate residency in animal pathology at North Carolina State University, then became a faculty member, staff member, and assistant dean in her department. Now, Jenny is employed by a company with 50+ animal pathologists under her charge. Jenny speaks all over the world as a specialist in animal pathology.    

Over the years, we discovered that Matt is a fantastic artist, sculptor, chef, master carpenter and furniture maker, people helper, servant, business owner, and husband. He is loyal, thoughtful, compassionate, and prophetic. The North Carolina State Museum eventually hired Matt. Matt constructed authentic scenes of the inside of pioneers' homes in the museum, building the rooms, furniture, and furnishings. Then Matt started his own furniture company. Today, he is semi-retired.

Becky and I are having dinner with Matt tonight, 42 years after we met. Our love and respect for each other have remained strong through the years. Frankly, there’s almost nothing we wouldn’t do for Matt and Jenny and vice versa.

That is what the kingdom of heaven is like. What was inside Matt and Jenny was there all along. We sold our ‘religious expectations of perfection’ and bought the fields of Matt and Jenny, but we found two pearls. The world also found two pearls.