1 Peter 1:7
‘Now to you who believe this stone is precious.’
I got to wondering about precious things…
Memorabilia lying around the house, long forgotten papers filed away that stimulate numerous memories of people and places, things said and done; a stone received in love, a magical piece of wood, the toddler’s footprint on paper, first drawings, a ring, many precious memorable items.
There are people too. Footy guys now retired, a lost love lingering in the back of the memory, children and grandchildren that remind you of you.
However, what makes something precious? What is it that made you preserve a particular item that has no value other than a powerful memory? It can be something so small and insignificant that in passing no notice is taken of it, but so powerful is the response provoked by that item it is impossible not to keep it. For example, I was there on the final day England beating Australia and winning the Ashes, July 2015; I still have the ticket.
So, what makes something precious?
It is difficult to know what life would be like without the precious things that help make us and shape us, that give us both pleasure and the occasional sadness. I have a painting – it’s not on display because of the memories it provokes. I have several feelings about the picture: yes its precious, but affection and pleasure are not among the feelings I have for it, rather there is sadness and hurt. I know it was given to me out of gratitude and for the life saving grace that prompted the giving. It has a lot of meaning for me and I keep it in memory of the person who painted it and gave it to me, but this same person caused a lot of pain in the lives of others. I often acted as the lifeboat coming to their rescue and restoring peace. It was only when the painter, by God’s grace, became a Christian that there was a radical change. The painting given to me depicts a very painful Christ on the cross, perhaps reflecting the pain and suffering of the painter who, soon after presenting me with the painting, died in a refuge for alcoholics.
Do I have one precious thing that I could not do without?
I think this is what Peter is talking about when he talks of Jesus as ‘the precious stone’ – 1 Peter 2:7 “To you who believe, then this stone is precious.”
How precious is Jesus to me? Does he far outweigh all the other precious things that I have accumulated? The answer is yes. But I had to stop and reflect to make sure I was telling the truth to myself. A friend of mine said he kept back 15% just in case…
If I am precious to Jesus then I must hold the whole of my self-esteem and integrity, the person who I am, in the same light. After all, He is the man in the painting, in that painful image, who said I was precious enough for Him to do what He did. He was my lifeboat. Therefore, there is no holding back even 1%, I am precious in his sight. Chatting this through with my friend, the realisation, recommitment, restored 100% – that is precious.
Image credit: Wolfgang Hasselmann via Unsplash
