1 Peter 2:4 As you come to Him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to Him….
When our boys were younger, we took them several times to a local gem mine. For a fee, we bought huge buckets of dirt and spent an hour or so dumping the dirt into a screened box, running water over it, using a brush to knock off the dirt, hoping to find precious stones. Often the rocks that glittered were fairly worthless, and the ones that were true gems looked like worthless rocks. I often wished the worker who knew what to look for, knew how to tell the precious stones from the fools gold, would stand beside us the whole time to be sure we didn’t miss anything good. I could just see myself inadvertently dumping something valuable because it looked worthless.
1 Peter 2:7 Now to you who believe, this Stone is precious….
Those gem mine excursions now seem an incredibly fitting analogy for life—It’s dirty and messy. It takes time and effort to sift through everything and figure out what’s sparkly yet worthless and what’s dirty yet precious. It’s best to consult the Expert when you are unsure. And a lot of what the world sees as valuable is just sparkly rocks, while many precious stones are missed because folks fail to see the true value within them.
Isaiah 43:4 …you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you….
Lord, Thank You for this day and for this reminder that You see our potential, You love us for what’s on the inside. Thank You for not being distracted or fooled by the layers of filth that sometimes accumulate on the outside. Help us to look past all the dirt in each other and see each other as the precious, dearly loved gems that we are to You. Draw us closer. Amen.
Heb 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Have a blessed day.