What would you do if you lost something of great value and importance to you? Would you just shrug and say, “Oh well, too bad it’s lost; maybe it will turn up somewhere, sometime later”? No, most of us would immediately start to search for the missing item, and we would most likely ask others to join in the search as well.
This is exactly what happened to one woman in Long Island, New York. Colleen Dyckman panicked one Monday morning as she realized that she had thrown both her engagement ring and wedding band into the trash by mistake while cooking the night before.
Frantically, she followed the garbage trucks to the local dump where she begged workers to stop before her trash was incinerated. Then, she began to rip through garbage, “disgusting stuff” as a town employee, Jeremy Aretakis, called it.
Eight employees, including Dyckman and her husband, diligently sifted through piles of trash for over four hours, looking for the $5,000 rings that she had worn for nearly 20 years. Finally, they came to her trash bags, but they found no rings inside. Not willing to give up, town employee Kim Weathers decided to double-check the bags. Opening up one of them, she found the rings sandwiched between soggy cereal and slimy meat!
“I was saying to myself, ‘I hope I find this ring,’ so I’m happy I found it. I really am,” Weathers said.
How thankful the Dyckman’s were! “I started crying and hugging her,” Colleen Dyckman said. They had high praise for the workers and gave them boxes of pizza and brownies. “It was beautiful; it was like out of a movie,” Aretakis said, “one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Did you know that we all possess something far more valuable than money, wealth or possessions? It is our never-dying souls! Our souls are of more value than all of the riches and possessions of the whole world, for the Bible tells us, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-3736For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36‑37)).
What is it that determines the value of something? Why, its desirability, and the price a person is willing to pay. Jesus places such great value on our souls that He shed His royal blood on Calvary’s cross for us, dying and rising from the tomb on the third day. But there is another one who is vying for your soul, and that is Satan. The Bible warns us, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:88Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8)).
Not only do our souls have value and desirability, but they also have durability. They will live on in one of two places forever, and ever, and ever, and ever. It will either be in heaven, where “in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:1111Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. (Psalm 16:11)), or in the lake of fire, “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:4646Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9:46)).
Satan does not want us to realize the value or eternality of our souls, but will distract us with pleasure, business, politics and social life — anything that will prevent us from diligently seeking how to be made right with God. “O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!” (Deuteronomy 32:2929O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! (Deuteronomy 32:29)). There is one way to find eternal life, and that is by realizing our helpless, sinful state before a holy and righteous God, “for the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)). “With the heart [not the head] man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:1010For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:10)). God is not hiding, for He says, “Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:1313And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)). Be wise, and seek the Savior now while He may be found!
Diamond rings are certainly valuable and worth searching for. But The Best Water describes something far more vital.