“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” (2 Peter 1:1-2)

Peter had experienced a lot of different situations as he followed Jesus through His ministry here on earth. He had left his family business to follow Jesus. He had seen Him heal the sick, cure the lame, open blind eyes, heal deaf ears, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons, feed the multitudes, raise the dead and so much more. He had responded to Jesus by a few steps on the water, announced that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and defended Him in the garden. He also attempted to rebuke Jesus, that He would not go to the cross; and claimed he would follow Jesus no matter what. And when it counted, he denied knowing Jesus three times. After the resurrection, Jesus restored him by asking three times, do you love Me? Peter responded, I do. He also preached the first message of the church at Pentecost. Through it all, Peter held his faith in Jesus as the most important and valuable part of his life. Therefore, he wrote, “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:6-7)

When Peter wrote his second letter, he began by expressing how dearly his faith was to him. “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours.” (2 Peter 1:1) He called his faith precious. In the Greek language, from which our New Testament was written, the word translated as precious comes from two words. The first word means valued, honored, reverenced. The second word means the quality of what is valued. What is known as precious are stones, jewels, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, diamonds, turquoise, and pearls. These have value. Peter speaks of faith as precious. He calls Jesus “the living Stone.“ (1 Peter 2:4) Peter quoted Isaiah who speaks of the precious one to come.  “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.” (1 Peter 2:6, from Isaiah 28:16) It is faith, in the precious one to come, which makes our faith precious because there is nothing more valuable than our relationship with God through the expense of Jesus’ death and the power of life in the resurrection.

Our faith in Jesus Christ brings with it both grace and peace. Not in a small amount but in abundance, which comes through our growing knowledge of God and the value of our faith brings us life and eternal life. Paul would add, “so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience. (Colossians 1:10-11) This makes our faith in God precious, of great value.

In the Love of Jesus,

Michael Block