A Few Years Ago, I was hired as a faculty member at a local university. The typical process for advancement in such a position—called a tenure-track review—takes place five years into one's term. At that point, one's performance is evaluated. If the performance is deemed to be of a high enough standard, tenure is usually granted and employment continues. If the performance is not judged adequate, employment is terminated.
A friend of mine told me I should sacrifice everything to obtain tenure.
Knowing that I had been hired under these conditions, a friend of mine told me that this opportunity was the "pearl of great price," and that I should sacrifice everything in order to obtain tenure. I recognized the phrase my friend used as coming from a Biblical parable, where Jesus likened the kingdom of heaven to a merchant who found a pearl of great value and sold all that he had in order to purchase it.1 Evidently, my friend had taken the parable to mean that we must make big sacrifices to fulfill our ambitions.