Outward Beauty From an Inner Life III

“Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.” I Peter 3:4

Precious:  of great price, costly; of great value or worth; highly valued, much esteemed.  

What other things in Scripture are referred to as precious?  Many references are made to precious stones, and gold--sought after by great kings and treasure-seekers.  Also referred to as precious: lady wisdom; the fruit of the earth that feeds us; the blood of Christ; the death of His saints;  those chosen and beloved of God; His promises; and faith.  These are the great treasures for which Scripture uses the word precious – treasures both in our eyes and God’s eyes.  He is saying that He counts your beauty, your gentleness, your quietness of heart amidst all circumstances, as having that kind of value – equal to the most precious of both earthly and heavenly things.  

Notice that both earthly and heavenly things are listed here! And one more thing to notice:  inherent in the definition of precious is that it costs somebody a great deal.  Does our gentleness and our quietness of heart cost us something?  Is it, in very fact, sometimes the very hardest thing we have ever done, to have a gentle response?-- to keep a quiet heart?  Did we think we might just die in the attempt? ----When our husbands make dubious or wrong decisions; our children fall into sin; relatives demean us; friends betray us;  God knows.  To Him, our response is even the more precious, just as a diamond is more precious than an opal.

“By Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks.” (Heb 13:15).  Sometimes it is a herculean task to offer praise, when we are tired or discouraged or trials beset us ; that is why it is called a sacrifice of praise.  One of Webster's definitions of sacrifice reads:  “the thing offered to God; surrender or loss”.  Praise is costly.  Beauty of the spirit is costly.  Quietness of the heart is costly. That also is why it is precious in the sight of our Christ, who gave at all costs His very life so that we could do this thing that is impossible for us in our own strength, by our own willpower, our own design.