Great Price - For Christian Women
There are three things spoken of in the New Testament that are of "great price," or very costly.
- The alabaster box of ointment that Mary poured upon the person of the Lord in view of his burying; and the intelligence of love and adoration that lay behind that act was so exceedingly precious in the estimation of the Lord that He decreed then and there that, "whosesoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this women hath done, be told for a memorial of her."
- The pearl of great price, which is the church, and for which, and to secure it for Himself, the Lord, the merchantman, sold all that He had, such was its unfading beauty in His eyes.
- A meek and quiet spirit in a Christian woman - this we read "is in the sight of God of great price" (1 Pet. 3:4).
Of no service that men can render is such a thing said, of no labor or toil have we such an eulogium; it is fragrant to God, as was Mary's ointment, it is beautiful in His eyes as the church is in Christ's. What could Christian women desire more than this?
Here is fragrance that the skill of the perfumer cannot produce, here is an ornament that no jeweler can devise, here is beauty that surpasses everything that art or nature can show and it is enduring, for that which is of great price in the sight of God, He will preserve forever.
And this is within the reach of every Christian woman.
Why should they seek great publicity in service or prominence in the eyes of men? Let them ponder over this word of God and go in for this, and as they develop and show this meek and quiet spirit they will be, by what they are rather than by what they do, of use to others, because precious to God.
We do not make little of service by making much of this. Women ministered to the Lord. Phoebe was a servant of the church and succourer of many and women labored with Paul in the gospel - all right and good in its place -
but the meek and quiet spirit exceeds everything, it is of great price in the sight of God.
