Oh Church, your foreign wives will never be as precious as the Pearl. The Pearl demands no more than one thing, and no less than everything: that you leave behind your life to purchase It and make It your own.
Church, you have false sisters who accuse you of breaking the unity, of stomping on wounded feet and spatting on ancient wisdom. When you talk of the Great Chase, of pursuing your Warrior King beyond horizons of human wisdom, they become nervous and easily offended by your attitude. The feeling of wanting more than you have is not allowed among these sisters.
They know that for you to get more than you already have requires that you give up more than you have already given. They know that the more you give up, the less hold they will have on your life. You see, they ride on the treasures of your heart, and when those have been replaced by Jesus, they no longer have a place to sit!
Your foreign wives teach corruption in the form of servanthood and sacrifice. They say that you should be content in the musty building and endless programs and meetings and outreaches, for it is what you have been given, and a true servant wouldn't question his lot in life. Do not let them devour you like this! There is so much more to be had!
These are enemies of the truth. Do not let their gentle tones and meek demeanor fool you. They are a measly light bulb in the vast darkness, and they strain to shut the door on the blazing Day.
Oh Bride, will you pray to Jesus "show me Your heart!" and don't shudder and run when He does? Do you love Him enough to love Him as He is, when He shows You more of His heart? It may be frightening, I will not lie to you. I have been frightened by the ferocity of Jesus's heart, but when I learned to stand and bear it, I found myself falling deeper and deeper in love with it, captivated by the most terrible love I had ever seen. But do you love Him enough to not stay content with a small, manageable part of Him? Do you love Him enough to seek Him in the silence, where no one else is watching, and not let Him go until He explains Himself and blesses you with the raw, beautiful, terrible truth?
This sounds crazy. I know that I sound like I am out of my mind. But I don't care any more! One glimpse of what is waiting for the Bride sets my priorities on end. I know I sound foreign, but what is foreign now is actually normal for the true Bride. What is normal now is really foreign to the true Bride, who walks according to her first love, and not with her foreign wives. Church, you must cast away your foreign wives, though they seem so harmless and normal, and take up the other-worldly Pearl. It is worth it all.
This Pearl, this alien Object that bears the stench of abundant life...if you will grasp it and not turn away from the piercing glory, you will find that the decay of your own strength and wisdom is accomplished at last, and oh the freedom we find in our own deaths! What a morbid, exquisite life this is, where I forever lay myself down so that I can take up the Pearl! The Pearl represents abundant life, the only Life worth laying everything else down for, the Life that is truly Life.
I will be taken away from all I have and love, if it means I can belong to Jesus. Go out, Church, go pursue Jesus at every cost! If you obtain Him, anything you lose along the way will not be worth having!
I slept, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My Beloved is knocking.
“Open to me, my sister, my love,
my dove, my perfect one,
for my head is wet with dew,
my locks with the drops of the night.”
I had put off my garment;
how could I put it on?
I had bathed my feet;
how could I soil them?
My beloved put His hand to the latch,
and my heart was thrilled within me.
I arose to open to my Beloved,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh,
on the handles of the bolt.
I opened to my Beloved,
but my Beloved had turned and gone.
My soul failed me when He spoke.
I sought him, but found Him not;
I called Him, but He gave no answer.
The watchmen found me
as they went about in the city;
they beat me, they bruised me,
they took away my veil,
those watchmen of the walls.
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
if you find my Beloved,
that you tell Him
I am sick with love.
Oh Daughter of Zion, your Beloved has been knocking on your door. You have considered yourself too clean and comfortable to trouble yourself to unlock the latch, and so He has left you to the folly of your simple treasures. If you will go out and seek Him now, you will find Him! The watchmen may beat you, and you may become even more filthy and pained than you would have if you had answered in the first place, but it will still be worth it! Come out, Church, and find your Beloved! Come take up the Pearl of Greatest Price!
Church, you sit huddled together on a raft that is docked in His harbor, but you will not get off onto the Land. You take pride that you are docked in the King's harbor, but your aim has become more about staying together on that raft than being with the King of the land, who is calling you to Himself. Be careful! The raft you are standing on seems more stable than anything else, and you may be terrified to leave it, but the dry ground is so much better! Your raft is inches deep, but His land is miles deep and this Kingdom never quakes or falls. Don't wait! Come now! It is only a step away!
I know you are afraid, but if you love the Pearl you must know that He is not safe, but He is good. (C.S. Lewis, the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe)
"its hard to imagine
the freedom we find
from the things we leave behind"
(Michael Card, Things We Leave Behind)
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