BUYING AND SELLING

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                         BUYING-SELLING 
                                                            
            Jesus gave a parable about entering the Kingdom of God, recorded
in Matt 13:45-46.  He likened it to a merchantman seeking goodly pearls.
 When he had found ONE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE, he went and sold all that he had
and bought the one pearl. It focused on wanting the best there was to be had.
 He was hunting for quality material.  The shoddy would never do. 
        
            Seeking goodly pearls means that we are seeking hard for God. 
        
            Jesus loves to reveal Himself to those who are seeking for
reality, and will not settle for an admixture of good and bad.  If we WANT TO
DO HIS WILL, we shall have many things revealed to us by the Spirit. 
        
            The real truth of the parable, however, is in the thought of
selling what you have, in order to buy what is of much greater value. 
        
            This brings us to a point of decision.  What do we count to be of
greater value?  Too many of us are content to settle for the status quo and
do not really appreciate the value of the deeper things of our relationship
with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.                             
        
            There are dimensions in God that we cannot even dream of until we
get our eyes off of what normally holds the attention of those who name the
Name of Jesus.  We do not STUMBLE OVER the secrets of the Spirit-controlled
life.  We search for them, or they continue to elude us.
                                     
        
            To "sell all that we have" is the essence of relinquishing the
self-life, with its pleasures and desires.  These are probably NOT SINS, but
they fill our lives to the point that we do not have the desire nor the room
in our lives for a deeper walk with the Lord. 
        
            Certainly, sin should not have a home in us, but this goes deeper
than sin. 
        
            We "sell" in order that we might "buy".  "I councel thee to BUY
OF ME GOLD TRIED IN THE FIRE, and WHITE RAIMENT." Rev 3:18 
        
            GOLD is indicative of the NATURE OF JESUS, and is acquired only
by concerted effort AFTER the experience of Salvation and Holy Ghost Baptism.
 It is called "Growing in Grace", or "Maturing". 
        
            WHITE RAIMENT indicates the Righteousness of Saints.  We had HIS
Righteousness IMPUTED TO US at conversion, by FAITH in His finished work on
Calvary.  That is one thing.  It is quite another thing to have BOUGHT FROM
HIM the "rightness in His sight" that "white raiment" is indicative of.  It
indicates a refinement of character brought about by us having relinquished
the "ways of flesh" in order to acquire the   "WAYS OF GOD", or Godliness. 
        
            This is NOT A ONE-TIME DEAL, but rather, like the Nazarite of
old, a daily "refraining" and "gaining" process.  There were no "days off"
for the Nazarite--neither should there be for us who aspire to "the wearing
 of the white". 
        
            There are some aspects of this refinement of character that have
a much higher price tag on them than some of the others do.  Just as we
learned some parts of our childhood training much more easily than others, so
it is with the Spiritual Training. 
        
            We could not conveniently stop the process of training imposed
upon us by our parents and school teachers, but it is VERY EASY TO STOP THE
TRAININGS  OF THE HOLY GHOST.  "Just say, NO".  Once is all it takes to
"cancel your subscription".  No questions asked--the process STOPS. 
        
            WE SEEK FOR--WE PAY A PRICE FOR, the refining processes of the
Holy Ghost.  
        
            We are admonished (1 Pet 3:4) to adorn ourselves by "refraining"
from the outward things, and concentrating on the hidden man of the heart.
 The proper adorning for this inner man is a MEEK and QUIET SPIRIT.  The meek
spirit lacks selfassertion.  The quiet spirit is at rest--lacking turmoil and
turbulence.                                  
        
            THESE ARE, IN THE SIGHT OF GOD, OF GREAT PRICE-not easily
acquired! 
                                                 
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