As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”1 Pet. 2:4-6
Lord Jesus, I used to think the meaning of the phrase, “coming to Jesus,” was exhausted when we first trusted you to be our Savior. For sure, that was the most glorious and essential “come-to-Jesus-meeting” we’ll ever have. But this Scripture makes it clear that the whole Christian life is about perpetually coming to you. We need you today as much as the first day we met you. Though we share eternal union with you, would you please refresh and intensify our communion with you?
Indeed, as Peter affirmed, you are the life-giving living Stone for your beloved people—your Bride; the precious cornerstone for the living-stone-people—the church; the rock of refuge that’s higher than us (Ps. 61:2-3); the rock from which God gave water in the wilderness in Moses’ day (1 Cor. 10:1-4). You are the honey-giving rock of whom Asaph spoke (Ps. 81:16), and Daniel’s stone, cut from a mountain by the hands of God, which will become an everlasting kingdom of redemption and restoration (Dan. 2:36-45).
The more precious you become to us, the more we watch our shame, fears, and confusion melt away. The more we see you for who you really are, the more we see all other currencies as fool’s gold. The more we come to you, Jesus, the more we realize that it’s you who is always coming to us first.
We come to you right now; we come bringing our thirst to the fountain of your fullness; our brokenness to the daily-bakery of your new mercies; our weaknesses to the promise of your sufficiency. So very Amen we pray, in your treasured and shame-freeing name.