There are plastic pretender Pearls who will want to have the benefits of being a true Pearl of Great Price but they will not be willing to pay the high price. A true Pearl is willing to suffer great loss of pride, reputation, materials, time, comforts, and relationships because they are in Love with Me. A true Pearl is a humble follower of only My Voice and My Will. They will blindly go where I lead. They will lay down they life for Me. A pretender will only suffer loss of self-interests to a point. They pretend to follow Me, but they are actually leading and imposing their own will on others. They pretend to serve, but use their service as a means of securing their own desires. They have the words and forms of religion, but do not desire only My Presence and My Will.
Mark 10:21-22 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Luke 9:23-26 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.
John 6:60, 66-68 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” . . . From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Matthew 7:18, 20 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Mark 8:35-37 “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
