Precious
Personal Matters
“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24). Preciousness is a spontaneous awareness of great worth, in Paul’s case his perception of personal worth was founded not in himself but in Christ alone. This is directly opposed to the foundational message about our value dominating both secular culture and contemporary Church today. This article attempts to point us away from ourselves to the sufferings of Christ as the sole source of lasting human worth.
Original Preciousness Lost
Surrounded by beautiful vegetation, flowing rivers and precious stones Adam and Eve were spontaneously aware they were “the apple of God’s eye” (Gen 2:8-12; Deut 32:10). Satan’s temptation; ““You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it (tree of knowledge) your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”” (Gen 3:4-5), introduced a whole new thought into human consciousness. The idea “that the tree was to be desired to make one wise” i.e. in one’s own eyes rather than in the eyes of God turned the Creator-creature relationship upside down (Gen 2:9; 3:6; Prov 3:15). Plunged foolishly into self-evaluation fallen humans lost the ability to see how precious we are in the sight of God. (Prov 3:7; Isa 5:21). Hence our insatiable need to feel special about ourselves.
Mirror Mirror on the Wall
“Beauty tends to corrupt and absolute beauty corrupts absolutely”. Beauty in one’s own eyes works self-destruction! The primeval being of Ezekiel 28 was once “full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” dwelling in Eden “adorned with every precious stone” (vv.11-12). This creature’s fall from grace came because, “Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendour.” (v.17). All who carry carries within them such self-centred preciousness will self-destruct under the judgement of God. An excellent illustration of such degeneration is a creature in the Lord of the Rings. Originally Smeagol was a cute Hobbit, but irresistibly attracted by the dazzle of the Ring of Power he kills his friend to obtain it so that it becomes “my precious”. His obsession causes the degeneration of his personhood and he is transformed into a vile and despicable creature called Gollum. Under centuries of the Ring’s influence, Gollum had “come to love and despise the Ring, just as he loved and hated himself.” Unable to separate himself from his most precious possession in the end Gollum falls into fiery lava and perishes holding “his precious” tightly in his hands. Gollum is a type of humanity, corrupted by “sinful desire” and whose end is to be consumed in the lake of fire (2 Pet 1:4). Under the power of self-preciousness humanity comes to pieces; hence in a world of “selfies” and social media addictions 7% of Australian children suffer from anxiety disorders. Our world is one where Gollum-like people love and hate themselves but cannot let go of the notion of self-worth. Once it was simply in front of the mirror on the wall, now the mirror is the screen before their eyes. Thankfully, through Jesus brings a totally different experience of preciousness.
Precious in Christ
The Old Testament prophetically testifies that the shed blood of the faithful is “precious in God’s sight” (Pss 72:14; cf. 116:15). Jesus brought this revelation of valued suffering to completion. Peter speaks of “the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish”, and of Jesus “rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious” (1 Pet 1:19; 2:4). When Paul testified “I do not account my life…precious to myself” he was living in the light of the superior preciousness of how Jesus is seen in the Father’s eyes (Acts 20:24 cf. Gal 2:20).
The Father’s estimation of the Son is best sighted through the heavenly vision of Revelation; the only one “worthy” to share God’s rule is the Lamb “who shed his blood” and “ransomed people for God” (Rev 5:9, 13). The preciousness of Christ before the Lord is measured by his sacrifice in bringing others to the Father. When Paul testifies that no self-sacrifice is too great to bring others to Christ he is simply sharing in the shape of the life of Jesus. Those who would experience just how precious they are to God must live in this way; ““whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”” (Matt 10:38-39). An exactly opposite spirit to such self-sacrifice has penetrated the contemporary Church.
It has long been observed that people learn most of their theology from what they sing. The catchy chorus ending with, “Like a rose Trampled on the ground You took the fall And thought of me Above all”, places ‘ME’ in a position more precious to Jesus than the glory of the Father for which he died (John 12:27-28). We could say, he “thought of me in the Father Above all”, but to think he “thought of me Above all” reflects a misshapen Christian spirituality that makes “God” the ultimate guarantor of human happiness. No wonder we lack power to correct our hedonistic culture!
Conclusion
Years ago walking through a European city crammed with luxury goods, the precious jewellery, art objects and fashions of this world, my spirit was deeply distressed (Acts 17:16). Suddenly I could see Jesus SPARKLING and radiating his preciousness through all the beauties of creation underlying these brilliant artefacts. In the light of the worth of Christ I had complete peace that the false preciousness of a proud system which today holds humanity in blind captivity must soon fall (Dan 4:30ff; Prov 16:5; Rev 14:8; 17:4 etc.).
Only the humility of the shed blood of the cross can communicate our indescribable worth in God’s sight. Blood must be shed if the human conscience is to be persuaded of the reality of our value in God’s eyes. The blood of Christ was freely shed once and for all, but there is a sense in which it must be shed again; through us (Col 1:24). The way to radiate the preciousness of Jesus to those ceaselessly striving to be precious in their own eyes is to suffer for them in the cause the gospel. One of God’s most “precious promises” is that when we join Jesus in his suffering love the corrupting values of the world lose their hold over us (Phil 3:10; 1 Pet 4:1; 2 Pet 1:4). As Christians live a life of sacrificial obedience the Spirit increasingly communicates to us how infinitely precious Christ in us is in the eyes of our Father. Abiding in this vision is the source of our true preciousness before God. In the End everything will be precious, but this eternal preciousness is created from the sacrificial blood of the Lamb (Rev 21:11, 19). As we die daily with Christ this sort of preciousness can revealed to a perishing world (Rom 8:36). Jesus is worth such a sacrifice.