DEUTERONOMY 14

I love jewelry. I like things that glitter and sparkle. I love to walk into a jewelry store and look at the beautiful diamonds and rubies and emeralds which have been so carefully placed in their gold settings. Lights in jewelry stores are positioned just right to make those precious stones sparkle and shine. Oh yes, I love jewelry.

I’m in good company, here, because my God loves jewelry too. Think not? Check out the description of the walls of heaven in Revelation 21 — twelve huge rows of glittering jewels. Not to mention the streets of pure gold and the twelve gates of heaven — which are all huge pearls, of course. God even brought a taste of this jewelry to Earth with His clothing designs for the high priest in Israel. Remember the description in Exodus 28? When the high priest walked around in the sun, it must have blinded the people. His breastplate was dazzling.

And that’s why I love this verse in Deuteronomy 14: "The Lord has chosen you to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth." (vs 2) Forgive me for quoting the King James Version here, but I just love that word peculiar. It’s how I heard it most often growing up. And I hope you’ll pardon the pun, but I always thought it was such a peculiar thing to say. Why would God want weird or strange people as His ambassadors? To me, it sounded like God was looking for the circus-sideshow freaks to represent Him.

But that’s not what the Hebrew word means at all. The word is cegullah, which means valued property or treasure. In other places, the same word is translated (drum roll, please) jewel. That’s right! God not only likes precious gems, but He is so awesome that He can turn us into jewels too. As we grow in our relationship with Him, as we respond to His Spirit’s transforming work in our lives, we will become like beautiful, dazzling jewels that will capture the attention of those around us — especially when the hot lights of life bear down on us.

I really love this about God. The walls, gates, and streets of heaven are encrusted with fine gems, yet He calls me His precious treasure. He says you are His valued gem. With God, I don’t get to just love jewelry, I get to be jewelry!