As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 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.” 1 Peter 2:4-6
Heavenly Father, I used to think that “coming to Jesus” was a phrase whose meaning was exhausted when we first trust your Son to be our Savior. For sure, that is the most glorious and essential “come-to-Jesus-meeting” we’ll ever have. How I praise you for showing me how much I needed your Son and for giving me the faith to trust Jesus plus nothing for my salvation.
It’s obvious to me now, however, that the whole Christian life is about coming to Jesus. We need Jesus today as much as the first day he entered our lives. In fact, we’ll never exhaust our need for what Jesus alone can give. We’ll forever discover more and more reasons to give him the worship, adoration and praise of which he alone is worthy.
Indeed, Jesus, you are the life-giving living Stone for your beloved people… the precious cornerstone of the living temple, called the Body of Christ… the Rock of refuge that’s higher than I am (Psalm 61)… the Rock from which God gave water in the wilderness in Moses’ day (1 Cor. 10:1-4)… the Honey-ed Rock of whom Asaph spoke (Psalm 81:16)… Daniel’s stone, cut from a mountain by the hands of God, which will become an everlasting kingdom of redemption and restoration (Daniel 2:36-45).
Jesus, we exalt you… we delight in you… the more precious you become to us, the more we watch our shame melt away… the more we see you for you really are, the more we see all other precious currencies as “fool’s gold”… the more we come to you, the more we realize that it’s you who is always coming to us first.
Jesus, we come to you right now… we come bringing our emptiness to the fountain of your fullness… we bring our brokenness to the storehouse of your kindness… we bring our weakness in the great assurance of your endless mercies. We come to you right now… for enough gospel-manna to meet the demands of this one day. So very Amen, we pray, in your precious and shame-freeing name.
