The Preciousness of Faith
Jeremy Walker serves as a pastor of Maidenbower Baptist Church in Crawley, England, and is married to Alissa, with whom he enjoys the blessing of three children. He has authored several books, and is grateful to preach, teach, and write as opportunity provides.
This post is adapted from Jeremy’s upcoming 50-day devotional, A Word in Season: 50 Days of Hope for Hard Times. Click here to learn more: A Word in Season
Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:1
A Christian’s faith is a precious thing indeed. The apostle Peter opens his second letter by saying that he is a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, writing to those “who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” Have you, Christian, considered the preciousness of your faith?
I hope you have considered that it is precious because of how it is granted to you. It comes by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. It is from him. It is his purchase. It derives all its value, worth, and efficacy from the fact that it has a Christ to lay hold of. This is the Christ who, in his death and resurrection, has secured this gift of faith for you.
There is another reason why it is precious: By its very nature, it is a gift from God to us. It is not something worked up by us, but something worked in us by God’s Holy Spirit, granted so that we may come to God through Christ Jesus.
It is precious because of what it sees. Faith looks up. Faith looks beyond the things that the eye of flesh alone can see. Faith sees God smiling in Christ Jesus. Faith lays hold upon Christ in all his saving excellence. Faith sees the glory that is to come even in the midst of this world’s sufferings and sorrows.
Consider the preciousness of faith in terms of what it receives. Faith lays hold of Christ and, in receiving Christ, gets God himself; it signifies that we are now his and he is ours. We are in Christ through the Holy Spirit. The entire Godhead is embraced in the act of faith. There is no separation among them. We distinguish, yes, but the work of faith is to lay hold upon all that God is and all that God does, to call God “Abba, Father”; to come to the Son and trust in him as the One who has procured all that is necessary for life; to trust in the Holy Spirit, and to know him at work in our hearts while embracing his promises and operations. Gaining God, gaining Christ, gaining the Spirit, faith brings with it justification, adoption, and all those great and precious promises. We have peace with God by faith. We are called sons of God by faith. We lay hold of all the promises of God, which are “Yes!” and “Amen!” in Christ Jesus.
Faith is also precious because of those with whom it is shared. Peter talks about obtaining like precious faith with us. The faith that justifies, the faith that lays hold upon Jesus Christ, is the same faith in every true child of God. There is not an apostolic faith that is somehow purer or greater or better. Your faith is perhaps weaker than others, perhaps stronger than others. But the faith that Peter talks about is a faith that lays hold upon Christ Jesus, and it is that which makes it precious.
Whether you are Peter the apostle, a Paul or a John, or a humble foot soldier who feels like an infant in the arms of the Lamb, your faith is precious. If it is the faith of a true child of God, clinging to Christ and receiving all these good things through him, then with such faith you can stand shoulder to shoulder with a Peter or any other true believer, gazing adoringly at God in Christ by the Spirit and rejoicing in what you have received. You have been given the same precious faith as every believer, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And if you do not yet possess that faith, along with all its precious blessings, then cry out to the God of Heaven, the God of all grace, that he will grant it to you. Cast yourself upon him so that you too may enjoy the mercy that faith obtains.