Doug's Saturday Night Devotions

I Peter 2:6

     Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”

     Peter quotes for us here Isaiah 28:16.  He had alluded to Isaiah’s passage in verse 4, but now in verse 6, he quotes Isaiah more fully.  Initially, Peter called Jesus “a living stone,” and here he expands that thought by reiterating Isaiah’s description of Jesus as the chief cornerstone.  Jesus’ teachings, His example, and our relationship with Him are to be the foundation on which we base our lives.  Jesus is here said to be “elect,” that is He was chosen by God to be the best possible means, indeed, the only possible means by which to accomplish His purpose of reconciling man to God.  He is “precious.”  He is worthy of selling all we have to gain Him (Matthew 13:46).  Everything about Jesus is precious to us.  What He has done for us, the love He has shown for us, the plans He has for us, and the thoughts in His heart as He considers us are all precious.  Psalm 139:17 says, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!  How great is the sum of them!”  Oh how precious He is to us!

     The verse ends with the promise that those who put their faith in Christ “will by no means be put to shame.”  We will not begrudge our sacrifices to Him, nor will we be disappointed by His rewards to us.  Some things seem to be of great value, but after investing time, money, and effort, we are ashamed, or at least disappointed, by how little we gained from those investments.  But the more we give to gain Christ, the more devotion we show to Him, the more precious we find Him to be.  We will not ever be shamed by our commitment to our Lord.  Our physique, our acquisitions, and even some of our relationships will become less and less precious as we grow older, but Jesus, our chief cornerstone will continue to hold His value in our eyes.  Yes, we find Him more and more precious the longer we know Him and the more we invest in His service.  As we fling ourselves in faith to serve the Lord our God, we are filled with confidence that we have chosen well.  We will have no shame now or later that we have made Christ the love of our life.