{mosimage}I'd been sitting at the registration table, handing out nametags and taking payment for the seminar. At some point someone left a pen on the table. It was just one of those promotional pens, but it was a big fat one, the kind I like. After resisting for a while, I picked it up and examined it more closely. The name and address of an orthodontist was stamped on the shaft.

At the break time I was back in my place, taking money again as people selected the books they wanted to buy. A woman glanced down at the pen. "Oh, she said, "is this mine?" "Could be," I replied. "It was left here." She turned the pen in her hand and chuckled. "Yes, this is my five thousand dollar pen." Then she smiled and explained that she had taken her son to be fitted for braces and before they left the orthodontist gave her the pen. "Somehow it felt like I'd been cheated!"

Have you ever made a purchased and then thought the item wasn't worth what you'd paid? There's a very short story in the Bible, in the book of Matthew, that talks about buying something of value. "Again," Jesus said, "the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." (Matthew 13:45) Imagine finding something of such great value that you would sell everything you owned to own it! Imagine taking that something home and discovering that it was indeed worth every penny, because this thing you had purchased would never wear out. This thing you had purchased was eternal.

Now stop imagining. Take a look around you right now, wherever you are. The world looks real, doesn't it? It looks like it will last forever, but it won't. It will change, decay, crumble into dust eventually. But there is a world that will last forever. It's not visible to us right now, but some day it will be. The kingdom of God will become as real to us as the world we live in right now, and it will last forever.

There's one way to ensure that you are part of that eternal kingdom. Get to know the King. He offers us this ?pearl of great price? for free. He has already paid the price for it. All we have to do is accept that sacrifice, acknowledge that we cannot pay for it ourselves, and be born again into His realm.

The gift even comes with a guarantee. You won't walk away feeling like you've been cheated. You?ll see the world differently and you?ll begin to relate to it differently. The gift becomes part of you because that's the other thing that's eternal ? you. You will live forever and it's your choice where you?ll spend eternity. It would be wise to go now and sell everything ? let everything else go but this one thing. Receive the Kingdom of God.

Marcia Laycock is a pastor's wife and freelance writer living in Alberta Canada.  Her devotional book, The Spur of the Moment has been endorsed by Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and others.  To order, and to view more of Marcia's writing, see her web site - www.vinemarc.com
Copyright Marcia Lee Laycock, 2000, 2001,2002,2003,2004