Several months ago, I heard of a most interesting study that has stuck with me, and brought with it many thoughts and meditations. Apparently, years ago, a chemist undertook to determine the value of a human being. He broke down all the elements and compounds that make up the human body, and then priced each component individually to see how much each would cost. The result? Two dollars and thirty-two cents!

On the other hand, scientists are beginning to appreciate the complexity of the human body. If a team of scientists were to put together all the molecules that make up each DNA strand and every cell in the human body, it is estimated that there is not enough money in the world to pay for the project, and the result would be only a dead human body.

In a sense, therefore, we are all worth much more than what was once reserved for Lee Majors, the Six Million Dollar Man.

However, neither of these studies can come close to capturing the worth of our most precious component: our eternal soul. When God looks down upon us as His creations, He sees so much more than carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and iron. When God looks upon us, He looks straight through to our very soul.

In today's parable, Jesus is painting for His followers a picture of heaven. It is like a fine pearl that a merchant sold all he had in order to purchase. The flip side of this parable is how God looks at us. We could not possibly have eternal life and heaven if it were not for Him. So, in essence, we are His fine pearls. When God found us, He gave away the most precious thing He had, His Son, Jesus, in order to purchase us.

If we start feeling down or discouraged, let us stop and remember for a moment that there is Someone who thinks we are worth far more than six million dollars, and He was willing to pay the ultimate price to prove it.

Prayer: Generous and loving heavenly Father, thank You for assessing our souls at such a great value. Thank You for sending Your most precious Son to pay for us, that we might obtain that pearl of great worth, an eternity with You. Amen.

Isaiah 29:13 – The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." (NIV)

The other morning, my three-year-old daughter said something that, to her, was so simple, but which was truly quite profound. As she lay in bed with her mother, out of the blue, she said, "You know, mommy, I put carpet in my heart for Jesus to walk on."

I think that is why Jesus, referring to children, said that "the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:14) But it made me begin to evaluate the condition of my own heart, and to wonder if Jesus had a comfortable place to walk on.

I imagine Jesus had much sadness in His heart, as He quoted today's verse from Isaiah. The people were honouring Him with their words, but their words were meaningless, because their hearts were not rightly prepared and conditioned for Him.

As a culture, we are always ready and anxious to roll out the red carpet for those we deem to be important or worthy, whether it be actors, musicians, or political leaders. And, while we cannot literally roll out the carpet for our Lord, we can put the carpet in our hearts, by filling our hearts with those things that are noble, good, righteous, and true. We can make sure to include Him in our daily lives through the study of His Word, and through personal conversations with Him. By doing these things, we can make way for the most important person of all.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we lay down a carpet in Your path, and proclaim this day, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" May our hearts be a proper dwelling place for You, and may they be filled with all good and blessed things. Amen.

Last night the youth of our church led us all in the worship portion of our service, and they led us in the song, "Everyday". At one point in the song was the phrase, "Everyday, I'll follow after You". As I sang these words over and over again, I could not help but feel convicted by what I was singing.

I flipped to my concordance, and looked up the word "follow". It gave the alternative meanings of "pursue" and "imitate". Every day we are to pursue and imitate God. As I looked at my own life, I realized that there are many days when God is not truly my pursuit. While I may not be running away from Him, or going the opposite direction from Him, I am pursuing or following after other things. And then I began to justify to myself those other pursuits, thinking that I was no different than anyone else who was singing that song last night. And therein was (or is) the problem.

As I began to look to the scriptures for more insight, I came across today's verses in Numbers. Here were God's chosen people who had followed His chosen leader through the desert and wilderness, and now God tells them that they will not see the land they were promised. And why? Not because they had not followed Him, but because they had not followed Him wholeheartedly. But two individuals did stand out, and were different than everyone else. Caleb and Joshua had followed Him wholeheartedly and every day, and for that they received the blessing of entering the Promised Land.

Only by daily and wholeheartedly following after Him can we also receive the promises and blessings He has set aside for us.

Prayer: Lord, we ask that You would increase our faith and strengthen our resolve, that we might daily follow after, pursue, and imitate You. Help us to set aside other pursuits, and trust that Your provision will be sufficient for all our needs. Amen.

I recently began a new teaching series in which our class is walking through the Gospels, in an effort to draw nearer to Christ by closely examining His life and teachings. As I prepared the lesson for the fifth and sixth chapters of Matthew, I remembered hearing my father say that the first portion of the Sermon on the Mount was called the Beatitudes because these are the attitudes that Christ would have us to be. And for the most part, the attitude He desires is quite evident. But for many, if not most, it is not immediately clear what is meant by "poor in spirit" and "mourning".

So what exactly is it that Christ is asking and requiring of us? For the first one, I think that the New Living Translation actually hits the nail on the head, as it says, "God blesses those who realize their need for him." To be poor in spirit, we must realize just how destitute and lost we would be without Him.

But why are we to mourn? Perhaps the better question is, "What are we to mourn?" We are to mourn over our sins. God desires that we come before Him with a spirit and attitude of mourning, and deep regret for our transgressions. There is an old gospel song that speaks of the crucifixion of Christ, and, in the chorus, it says, "Oh sometimes, it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble." That is the exact attitude about which Christ is speaking. Our sins and transgressions should bring us to our knees, mourning and trembling, as we realize that we have caused Him grief, and that we are truly nothing without Him. Not until we have come to this realization, and have truly begun to mourn over our sins, will we receive the full measure of God's blessings, as promised in Matthew.

Prayer: O Lord, we do come mourning and trembling, knowing that our sins helped nail You to that cross. Help us ever to be mindful of how much we truly need You, and may we receive the blessings and comfort that You promised in Your word. Amen.

As I read these scriptures the other day, a song that my cousins sang some years ago began to play back through my mind. The words to this song were taken directly from these scriptures and have stayed with me through the years. I don't remember the song title, but the words went like this:

Jesus said, "Come," so Peter went.
But when the faith he had was spent,
Peter sank low, but Jesus had waves roll under His feet.

The part that always has caught my attention is the part that speaks of Peter's faith being spent. At first it sounded kind of odd to me, as I did not understand how a person could "spend" his or her faith. But, through the years, I have come to realize that indeed we do have to bank up our faith, so to speak, and that faith is not something that God just hands out in endless supply when we first come to know Him personally.

Faith is a gift of God, and He is willing to give it to us in endless fashion, but it is something that we have to ask for and seek after. So how is it that we get this faith, and how do we avoid losing it? Looking back at the scriptures, I think we can find the simple answer to this question.

Peter was walking on water along with Jesus until what happened? He "saw the wind". In order for him to see the wind, he had to take his eyes and his focus off Jesus, and that is when his faith savings ran dry.

So the simple answer is that in order to keep adding deposits to our faith, we must first and foremost keep our eyes and focus upon Jesus, the issuer and perfecter of our faith.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we cast our eyes upon You this day and stretch out our hands, anxiously awaiting a new deposit of faith to help us walk across the waters of this day. Amen.

E. M. Bounds' "Complete Works on Prayer" has re-opened my eyes to several truths about prayer. The one required element of prayer which stands out to me the most is "desire".

In our daily lives, the things that we want and desire most, we are most likely to achieve. Why? Because these are the things we pour our hearts into, and, most importantly, the things we willingly devote the most time and attention to.

But often our prayers are more like the "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" car as we pray for a list of things, often without passion or desire. Sure, we have the right motives and intentions, but we just don't put enough into it. Our prayers, and their results, become sputtery — without the "zoom" and "pep" that we really want.

If we switch to that "Streetcar Named Desire", our efforts achieve much greater prizes. Bounds ventures to suggest that we only pray for those things that we greatly desire. After all, if we have a great desire for something, we will unceasingly and patiently pray and seek after it with relentless effort.

Today's Scripture tells us that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. James 5:16b states, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (KJV) So, unless we put desire and zeal behind our prayers, they will avail little, or nothing. Unless we hunger and thirst for something, our plate will never be filled.

Just as Potts was able to re-vitalize the junkyard car he found and make it fly, our Master mechanic can re-vitalize our prayer lives if we have the desire and allow Him to work.

Prayer: O Lord, our greatest desire is to be closer to You. Help us to thirst and hunger for righteousness and to be fervent in our prayers, that we might receive the full measure of Your blessings that You promise in Your word. Amen.

Numbers 30:2 – When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said. (NIV)

Today I received a gentle and friendly reminder of just how gracious and patient our dear heavenly Father is.

Some two years ago, I made a vow to the Lord that I would consistently write devotional messages, as He provided the inspiration, and send them out to friends, co-workers, and family on my e-mail list. Eventually I began submitting these devotionals to PCCWeb Daily, and the words God gave me were circulated around the globe to thousands of people. I began getting responses from all over the world, and God truly blessed me.

But several months ago, for no particular reason, I stopped writing the devotionals. I failed to keep my vow to the Lord. Just as Jonah had promised to give God's message to the Ninevites, and then fled in the opposite direction, so, too, I fled from my vow, and turned away.

Just like Jonah, I knew, the whole time, that I needed to turn around and fulfill my vow to God, but still I did not. For Jonah, it took being swallowed by a fish to bring him back. For me, it was a simple e-mail from someone who had read many of my previous devotionals. "I miss your devotionals. When are you going to write some more?" was all they wrote.

I immediately became intensely aware of God's wondrous grace in my life. Grace, unmerited favour, had surely been shown to me. For the previous several months, God had answered numerous prayers, and had blessed my family and me in uncounted ways. He had been the same as always, despite my turning from Him. Only God could love sinners such as me. Only God would willingly bless someone who had failed to keep a vow that was made. Today, I have, like Jonah, renewed my vow to God. I am so thankful that He has been so patient with me, and was kind enough to send such a gentle, loving reminder, rather than having me "swallowed" by a bigger fish.

I hope that, today, we will all take a few moments to be aware of and appreciate how truly gracious and patient our Father is.

Prayer: O heavenly Father, we thank You, with all that we are, for Your grace and Your undeniable patience. Thank You for loving sinners like us, and thank You for not giving us what we deserve. This song of thanksgiving we sacrifice to You. Amen.