What Would You Find
on God’s Mantle?

Go into any house, and you will find it on prominent display—on the mantle or the piano, in a frame near the lamp, or on a stand next to the fine china. Something precious will be there for every visitor to admire. In one house it’s a trophy or a prize catch. In another it’s a photograph of a grandchild or a best friend. Whatever it is, you can tell it is a treasure to someone who lives there. The trophy may be tarnished or the photograph faded, but it is still priceless.

What is precious to God? If he desired it, He who created the universe could surely have a treasure trove of diamonds, platinum, and the finest silks. Yet Revelation 21 pictures the highest things on a worldly scale of value (gold, pearl, precious stones) as no more than common building materials to God (His asphalt, timber, and granite). His value scale starts after ours reaches its zenith.

Holy Scripture lists for us what is precious to God, and each deserves a closer look. Take out your Bible, look up and read each of these verses. Then utter a prayer of thanksgiving that such a God is willing for us to be part of His family.

Things Precious to God
  1. The life (literally “blood”) of the weak and needy (Ps. 72:14, referring ultimately to the Messiah)
  2. The death of His saints (Ps. 116:15)
  3. His chosen ones (Israel in this context) (Isa. 43:4)
  4. Christ, the living Stone (1 Peter 2:4)
  5. The unfading beauty of a woman’s gentle and quiet spirit (1 Peter 3:4) Perhaps if we shared more of God's values we would appreciate Him, and one another, more.
—Steve Singleton
DeeperStudy.com