Are You Trading in Stones or in Diamonds?
“I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see”. (Revelation 3:18).
The world has often been compared to a market or a bazaar where many competing businesses are on offer. The products on display and for sale are of different values; some are costly and some cheap. Some are diamonds and some are stones, spiritually speaking.
In the spiritual economy seeking the kingdom of God is the most valuable investment a man can ever make and this was precisely stated in Matthew 13:44:
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field”.
As we see from the statement above, one key difference between the worldly economy and the spiritual economy is that transactions are not that straightforward and one needs to be spiritually enlightened not to suffer untold losses. It takes spiritual wisdom to make profitable investments in spiritual matters.
The spiritual economy is controlled by God and Satan where the true values of transactions are hidden from those who are spiritually blind or undiscerning.
It takes a spiritual awakening to see the true value God has placed on a soul and it takes spiritual blindness to make a man invest all his life in material pursuit without God.
In the economy of God, the currency needed for profitable trading is spiritual awakening and in the economy of Satan, the currency is spiritual blindness.
Just as God continues to open the eyes of many to see the true value of their souls and commit their lives to God, Satan on the other hand keeps drawing men into the shadows of vanities and destruction, selling stones to them at the price of a diamond (at the expense of their souls).
What is the most valuable investment in the world? Our soul. Jesus placed such a high value on the soul of men, so much so, that he asked: “ Is anything worth more than your soul?” (Mark 8:37 NLT).
Sadly men have enslaved themselves to accruing material possessions at the expense of their souls, and in the case of Christians, at the expense of Jesus Christ their redeemer.
They are ever willing to pay premium prices for the fake and minimum prices for what is really valuable- the pursuit of the Kingdom of God.
Many are so sold on pleasure and vanities that they have no more spiritual resources left to pursue the most valuable thing, the salvation of their souls.
How does Satan achieve this deceptive feat? The simple answer is, spiritual blindness, as mentioned above.
Talking about spiritual blindness and the wrong interpretation of values in the spiritual economy, the Bible says: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God”. (2 Corinthians 4:4).
What does this mean? Spiritual blindness is the sole determinant of values in satan’s spiritual market, recreating values and ensuring that people spend their currency on falsehoods.
In the spiritual economy controlled by Satan, material success becomes the sole factor for measuring value.
It is an economy where almost everyone is brought to the table of mammon. While men pay premium wages of death for stones they shun the free offer of life eternal for which Jesus paid a costly price through his death for the salvation of man.
The Bible says “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Now, no one is immune from spiritual blindness not even Christians if they are not on guard on a daily basis.
Exposing this wrong value placement, Jesus admonished one of the churches in the book of Revelation who have also been sold the wrong metrics of success saying:
“You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked”. (Revelation 3:17). This tells us that spiritual blindness is not an exclusive disease of unbelievers but also a big problem with some people of God.
Having fallen for the deception of false values, Judas struck a bargain with some murderers and sold Jesus for a meager amount of thirty pieces of silver. (Mathew 26:15-16).
What a miserable price to place on the one who made the universe and the savior of mankind. This is how far many have been misled by Satan to sell their soul for material benefits.
How can one escape from spiritual blindness and see what is of true value?
The unbeliever must come to the understanding that he is being sold cheap stones at the expense of his valuable diamond – his soul. He must come to Jesus in repentance to purchase things of real value.
The believer on the other hand must have his spirit man awake all the time and be very attentive to the voice of the Holy Spirit in prayer, on a daily basis so that the valuable word of life isn’t sold at the price of stones.
This is how to become a man of authentic value who is constantly able to distinguish between trading in falsehoods and trading in genuine values.
With the leading of the Holy Spirit, a man is continually able to differentiate between false bargains or transactions, and in so doing he ensures that his priceless soul isn’t sold at a cheap giveaway price.
Reading
Revelation 3:7-21
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