Thoughts on 1 Peter - Day 8

                     1 Peter 2:6-10

 For in Scripture it says:

“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.”

⁷ 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,”

⁸ and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.


          Is Jesus precious to you? If you and I get into a conversation, it won't be long until I talk to you about my wife, my kids, my grandchildren, delivering babies, baseball, the Vols, or zombie shows. How long until I get to talking about Jesus? The length of time it takes me to get there kind of shows how precious He is to me. When you walk into my (Karen's) house, how long until you see Jesus? When you step into my office, does Jesus jump out at you? He should! He called me out of darkness into His wonderful light. I deserved Hell and in His mercy, He gave me Heaven. Once I was an orphan and He took me, for no reason, made me His special possession - the apple of His eye, so to speak - and adopted me into His family making me a "people of God".

       We have been talking about the flesh and the Spirit, how they war against each other and how to live like Children of God, or priests representing God to the world as this passage states, versus living sinful self centered lives according to the flesh. As I think about it there are two ways to accomplish this. One is to deny the flesh. Starve it. Get accountability people in your life to ask you tough questions. As Jesus metaphorically speaks - "if your right hand offends you, cut it off." There certainly is precedence for this denying of the flesh throughout scripture and it is necessary. The other way for living a life pleasing to God, I feel is even better, easier, less stressful, more freeing, and certainly less painful (doesn't require eye gouging). This is, Jesus becoming more and more precious to you. As a kid growing up, the biggest treat in the world was when my parents would take us for a McDonalds hamburger. We hardly ever went out to eat because we were on a tight budget (hint, hint), but if we got a good report card or on a birthday, golden arches here we come. Oh man, were those hamburgers good! Until I tasted Fuddruckers or Five Guys. And Oh were those good until I tasted the smoke stack at Shake Shack. Sorry McDonalds but you don't even tempt me anymore. I have been seized by the power of a greater affection. Hopefully you get the analogy. When you get to know Jesus," the things of Earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."

     I was a deacon at my church but when I rotated off I didn't sign back up. The main reason was that I don't like visiting shut-ins. I know that sounds terrible and frankly it is. But we would go to someone's house and listen to them talk about themselves for an hour then pray with them and leave. They would be about 85 years old and in an hour of talking never mention how precious Jesus was to them. Oh, they loved the church, the pastor, the church TV broadcasts (streaming? what's that), etc. but what about Jesus?! Isn't He precious to you! Lord, when I am an old geezer - I mean an older geezer - may all the words on my lips be Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And less I continue to judge people so harshly, may all my words today be directed towards glorifying Your name! Amen