We often want the rewards others enjoy

without paying the price they paid to obtain them.

This passage reminds us that every worthwhile pursuit has its own cost. Wealth, knowledge, purity, influence, integrity, and peace each require different sacrifices,

and no one can possess them all in equal measure.

The wise person chooses what is truly worth pursuing, gladly accepts its cost, and does not envy those who have chosen a different path.

"Are godliness and knowledge the pearl of great price?

This too may be purchased—

by steady application and long, solitary hours of study and reflection.

Give these, and you shall become godly and wise.

"But," says the scholar,

"what a hardship it is that many a sinful and uneducated man, who cannot even read the motto on his own coach, should make a fortune and gain distinction, while I have little more than life's ordinary comforts."

And yet, was it to make a fortune that you spent the bright hours of youth in study and retirement?

Was it to become rich that you wore yourself out over the midnight lamp, drawing sweetness from the Bible and literatures classics?

If so, you have mistaken your path and misdirected your efforts.

"What reward, then, have I for all my labor?"

What reward?

A holy life and a broad and cultivated mind, freed from vulgar fears, restless passions, and prejudice; able to understand and interpret the works of God and of man.

A rich and flourishing intellect, filled with inexhaustible stores of reflection and delight.

A perpetual spring of fresh ideas, and the quiet dignity of superior understanding.

Good heaven! What greater reward could you ask?

"But is it not a reproach to Providence that such a mean and dirty fellow should amass wealth enough to buy half a nation?"

Not at all.

He made himself a mean and dirty fellow for that very purpose.

He paid for it with his health, his conscience, and his freedom.

Will you envy such a bargain?

Will you hang your head because he surpasses you in wealth and display?

Lift it with quiet confidence and say to yourself:

I do not possess these things because I have neither sought nor desired them.

I possess something better. I have chosen my portion, and I am content.

You are a modest person. You love quiet and independence, and possess a reserve that makes it impossible for you to elbow and push your way through the world or proclaim your own merits.

Be content, then,

with sweet communion with Christ,

with a modest life,

the esteem of close friends,

the approval of a blameless heart,

and the peace of an honest and generous spirit.

Leave the world's glittering honors to those more willing to scratch and scramble for them."

I'm aware this isn't doctrinal perfection, but the overall message is echoed through the entire Bible.