In chapter two, once again, in the book Dealing with the Rejection and Praise of Man by Bob Sorge. Today, as I asked God to teach me more about this, I was reminded of the oyster and the irritant. That little grain of grit that gets inside and tries to wreck havoc and discomfort to the little oyster. It’s a story Jesus told to help us understand that in this life, we will have trouble. Some trouble will even come from those we thought were our closest friends. Jesus said that He was rejected by men (even His most intimate of friends), and so, we shall also be rejected in this life. The rejection Jesus speaks of is not rejection for something we did wrong. No, this type of pain can only come when we are being obedient and trying to do good and help others. Thankfully, the oyster (us) has been equipped at its conception, to handle the painful things, in a way that changes that gritty, uncomfortable thing into something smooth, soft, beautiful and of great value. These are the pearls we make of the insults, false accusations, judgments and rejections we experience. No one really wants to have to experience this type of pain, they and we just want to see something valuable come from it. But to get to the end result of a beautiful Pearl, the oyster has to once again experience pain. To extract the Pearl, the oyster has to literally be torn apart to remove it. It that’s the point of laying one’s life down for another. Jesus did it. He is our Pearl of great price that was torn apart to give us value we didn’t deserve. We were the irritant and we became His Pearl. He paid a great price for us - His very life. Because He did it for me, it encourages me to allow the irritants or rejection to be transformed into pearls for others to benefit from. Of course, we must be careful who we offer our pearls to and why. All for God’s glory and praise.
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