Is Jesus Precious to You?

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” (1 Peter 2:6-8, NIV)

Is Jesus precious to you?

Don’t just knee-jerk answer that. Don’t just give it the answer you think makes you look good to other people. Really think. 

Do you value Jesus as precious every moment of every day? Do you treat him the way He deserves? Do you regard Him above all else in everything you do?

I can say truthfully, I don’t. Some days, my priorities are off. Heck, probably most days; my priorities are off. And I should only be able to focus on His preeminence and His grace. His strength and His power. His love and His patience with me. But in the hustle and grind of daily life, my awe of Him gets lost in work, mothering, cleaning my house, maintaining friendships  and anything else that pops up in between. 

The truth is, it happens to all of us. We’re all guilty of it. Life gets busy, and our devotion for the Lord doesn’t get the time it deserves. We skip our Bible reading for the day. We turn on the TV or endlessly scroll on our phones instead of turning to God in prayer. We do things we know don’t glorify God, like gossiping or living in unforgiveness or any other sin, big or small. 

The point is, do we really regard Christ as precious? 

Because Jesus is the precious and chosen cornerstone, picked by God to be the foundation of all things. He was purposed at the beginning of it all and He will fulfill every promise and prophecy set before Him at the end of it. He is the only spiritual stone that is strong enough and steadfast enough to be that cornerstone on which God has laid everything and orchestrated everything on. 

He is the only One who we can trust in. He is the only One we can lean on and never be put to shame for that belief in Him. Everything else may fade, or break, or let us down, and yet Christ will remain. And that type of commitment that most of us are so hungry for and dying to find. Jesus will never leave us wanting. Jesus will never disappoint us. He is always fighting for us, drawing us near, and revealing Himself to those who search for Him.

But just as Jesus is the cornerstone to those who believe in Him and cherish Him, there are those who will never see the preciousness of who He is. In fact, this cornerstone that every believer builds their faith and life on, is the same stone that is rejected by those who don’t. Not only that, but they stumble on it. Why? Because the Gospel, while full of love and sacrifice and grace for some, is exclusive, triggering, and offensive to others. At it’s core, the Gospel is offensive. Its beauty is reserved for those who believe and are convicted to let go of their sinful lifestyle; for those who choose to leave behind the things that push them away from the Lord. But for those that haven’t experienced the riches of Christ or experienced Him in their own, personal way, it’s easy to reject Him. In truth, it’s easy to reject something you don’t see the value in, certainly not enough to completely change your lifestyle for.

Those that stumble over the Gospel and Christ as the cornerstone only stumble because they disobey it. They refuse to turn away from it. They don’t see Jesus as precious enough to let go of the sin that gives them momentary pleasure and yet it only leads to eternal death.

But for us as Christians, we have experienced Christ in a way that inspires us to be transformed, and not by our power or might or humility, but by His. We have seen Him in all His beauty. We have fully realized the depths of His mercy and the lengths of His gentleness towards us. We are invited to seek Him and know Him deeper and deeper. 

And yet, we still don’t treat God as precious as we should. And the truth is, we all know it. No matter how impressive a Christian we want to seem, we all fall short. We could be the most knowledgeable theologian and the most devoted worshiper, and still we leave something to be desired as far as giving the Lord the love He is due. 

So no, none of us value Jesus as preciously as we should. We all need the reminder to do so. We all need to be re-invigorated to draw near to Him, to seek Him more earnestly, and to glorify Him more thoroughly. 

Today, the challenge is simple: some way, somehow, find the time to be with Jesus. Refresh your heart and mind to see how precious He is. Whether it’s in prayer, worship, the Word, finding quiet time, or some mixture of it all, it’s important to find that opportunity to do it.

Make that your first priority. Because Jesus made you His. And He sees you as more precious than anything there ever was.