Shards or Gold
Imagine you are sifting through the treasures of this life, much like a miner in the early days of the great west gold rush. You carefully remove layer after layer of sand, rock and other debris in search of that one great nugget. Most often as you sift through the river silt you find shards of glass or pottery. Hour after hour, day after day you bend into the river hoping for great wealth as you pan the river bed. The evidence is over whelming, gold is unlikely. The river is filled with shards of pottery more than nuggets of gold.
But you are only on one side of the river. A friend passes by and tells you the other side of the river has wealth you don’t have to work for. You don’t have to continue in your back breaking effort in hope of wealth. There, he says, are streets of endless length made completely of gold, solid pure gold. He says the gates leading into the city are actually made of pearls. Huge pearls. Each gate is actually a single pearl. As he talks with you he asks what it is you are doing. You respond, “I am looking for true wealth, wealth beyond compare. I am hoping to find wealth sufficient to carry me over the course of my life.” In stark amazement he looks at you with bewilderment and asks, “Have you not looked across this river? Look. That wealth is available right now, you don’t have to work so hard to attain it. The owner has already offered citizenship to all who wish to come.”
As he is speaking a memory of your childhood comes suddenly into your thoughts. Is the city just across the river the same city you learned about in church? Rev 21:18-22 “And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. (v.19) And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; (v.20) The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. (v.21) And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. (v.22) And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.”
Today are you sifting through the muck and the mire of the river of this life for wealth that cannot last? Are you only finding shards of broken dreams, dashed hopes, and pleasures that only last a moment? Look! Right across the river is a grand and glorious city which God promised to those who come to him by faith. Will you come? John 3:36 “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
