Precious
What is precious?
We must know what standard measure to value Christ. This has nothing to do with material nor religious things. (Religion comes out from pride and pride means you know. If we consider ourselves to be slaves, how can we act like bosses?). What standard are we using for valuation?
The person of Christ
What's precious is the person of Christ and His work of salvation. His person, His voice, has to do with our ear. That's why there was a saying, "Lend me your ear", to interpret the word, "Let he who has an ear, hear." This means that we should pay full attention to what He says. In Chinese, hearing means obeying. We must take care of our spirit.
What's precious? Also His covenant, His building work, God's expression, His coming back, His appearing.
What is precious in Peter's eyes?
- The proving of your faith, much more than of gold (1 Pet. 1:7). This suffering he saw as precious thing, because it leads to a wonderful result: transformation.
- The precious blood (1:19). What value do you have? Are you seeing it as a vaccine? His blood is much more than that, so precious. Not only to forgive our sins, but brings us into God's presence, as the blood of the covenant.
- The living stone (2:4), is Christ Himself, precious and good for building. We are also included as living stones. When God and man be built together, not only that He is precious, He becomes the preciousness itself.
- Meek and quiet spirit is costly (3:4), means it requires us to pay the price to get it. To be meek and quiet in spirit, we have to linger, not doing anything else, wait there. This is a good exercise, but it requires us paying the price.
- Allotted faith is equally precious (2 Pet. 1:1). We must realize that our faith is equally precious, whatever background do we have.
- Precious and exceedingly great promises (1:3-4), that through this you might become partakers of the divine nature. Be bold to proclaim that we are the divine nature-partakers.
Valuation according to God doesn't have to do with material things and religious things. Blindness comes from pride. "Do not regard of the appearance!"