A hundred years after it was buried with Manchu emperor Ch'ien Lungin 1799, the fabled "Pearl of Asia" was stolen by grave robbers. The fabulous pearl had been found by Persian divers, and purchased by the emperor Sha Jahan for his wife Mumtaz, for whom he also built the Taj Mahal and the Pear Mosque. About a century later the pearl was listed among the treasure of Ch'ien Lung.

After it was stolen from the emperor's tomb, the pearl disappeared from sight for eighteen years before turning up in Hong Kong. There it was used as security for a large loan that later defaulted. The pearl was then sold in Paris to an unidentified buyer for an undisclosed price. Since the 1940s, the location of the "Pearl of Asia" has been unknown; and its value is unassessed in today's dollars. (Today in the Word, September 9, 1995, p.16).

If you were to find this pearl today you would gladly sell all your possessions on earth to purchase it. You know that its value would far exceed your current treasures. In the same manner give your heart to God. Hold nothing back and you will possess treasure in heaven where no thief can pilfer and no moth destroy.