The celebrity news of the 1960s and 70s overflowed with gossip about the turbulent marriages of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (they were married and divorced twice to each other). In 1969, at the height of Burton’s career, he bought his wife a 69.42 carat diamond for $1.5 million. What many admirers did not know was that she had had a $2800 replica made for all but her most prestigious public appearances: lest the original be stolen from her.
Though the Taylor-Burton diamond outlasted the Taylor-Burton marriages, it did in the mean time serve as the most valuable item in their tax-haven jewellery collection—it sold for 5 million in 1978.
Of course, all this is nonsense; the romanticizing of hopeless Hollywood marriages. Theirs is the land where everything must be worth having, but nothing is worth keeping.
God speaks to that which is worth keeping:
“There is gold, and an abundance of jewels; But the lips of knowledge are a more precious thing” (Proverbs 20:15).
Jesus’ Parable of “The Lost Sheep” (Luke 15:1-7) personalizes the worth that God invests in that “one lost soul.” Christian, that was you and me.
Now, in knowing Jesus, we are owners of a knowledge that is of eternal worth—the Gospel. Jesus uses us in his search for other lost sheep.
Getting caught up in the distractions of the world impedes our progress. We start to believe that those shiny distractions will somehow aid us in our service for Jesus.
Answer this: What would sell for more at Sotheby’s Auction House: “Lips of knowledge,” or the Taylor-Burton Diamond?
We easily forget that “what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15).
In God’s eyes, the only thing worth keeping is that which gets you closest to Him—Jesus, Saviour of the World!
John Staiger
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