Create Your Own Pearls
Most of us know that a pearl is formed through a process in an oyster, but what fascinates me is that the oyster is not trying to make a pearl. The oyster is trying to protect itself from an intruder, such as a parasite or grain of sand, that slips in between one of its two shells and the protective layer that cover its organs. To seal off the irritant, the oyster quickly covers it with layer upon layer of nacre, the mineral substance that fashions its shell, until the iridescent pearl is formed.
Offenses in our life are very much like the irritant that invades an oyster. Someone says or does something hurtful to us. It’s an irritant that needs to get sealed off from our hearts or it will embed itself and produce resentment, bitterness, and unforgiveness. We’ve got to secrete the nacre of God’s love, so to speak, and seal it off. We have to keep a barrier between our hearts and the things that try to harm us. And God says the only way to do that is through forgiveness and love. The Bible says to pray for those who hurt you, for your enemies, for those who persecute you. I believe that every time we pray and declare, “God, in the name of Jesus, I am sealing this offense away from my heart. I forgive this person. I release the hurt and give it to You,” we’re covering that offense with layer upon layer of the nacre of God’s love.
We cannot allow bitterness and unforgiveness to take up valuable space in our heart because God wants to work and do good things in our heart. Jesus says, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good” (Luke 6:45). Offenses take the space of the good things God wants to do in our heart. When we store up the good things and keep the barrier between us and those harmful things, we’re going to produce good things in our life. That’s why God is saying today, “Let it go. Start fresh. Make room for the good things I want to put in your heart.”
Don’t let life’s hurts get into your heart. If you choose to cover it with the nacre of God’s love and seal off the harm of those irritants, you’re going to begin to create and form pearls of wisdom in your life, pearls of freedom, pearls of abundance. You’re going to be able to put a string of pearls around your neck that will declare that God is amazingly good!
Offenses in our life are very much like the irritant that invades an oyster. Someone says or does something hurtful to us. It’s an irritant that needs to get sealed off from our hearts or it will embed itself and produce resentment, bitterness, and unforgiveness. We’ve got to secrete the nacre of God’s love, so to speak, and seal it off. We have to keep a barrier between our hearts and the things that try to harm us. And God says the only way to do that is through forgiveness and love. The Bible says to pray for those who hurt you, for your enemies, for those who persecute you. I believe that every time we pray and declare, “God, in the name of Jesus, I am sealing this offense away from my heart. I forgive this person. I release the hurt and give it to You,” we’re covering that offense with layer upon layer of the nacre of God’s love.
We cannot allow bitterness and unforgiveness to take up valuable space in our heart because God wants to work and do good things in our heart. Jesus says, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good” (Luke 6:45). Offenses take the space of the good things God wants to do in our heart. When we store up the good things and keep the barrier between us and those harmful things, we’re going to produce good things in our life. That’s why God is saying today, “Let it go. Start fresh. Make room for the good things I want to put in your heart.”
Don’t let life’s hurts get into your heart. If you choose to cover it with the nacre of God’s love and seal off the harm of those irritants, you’re going to begin to create and form pearls of wisdom in your life, pearls of freedom, pearls of abundance. You’re going to be able to put a string of pearls around your neck that will declare that God is amazingly good!