Have you ever heard someone say, “You are precious to God?”
People tend to bundle words like precious, valuable, worthy, etc. as if they mean the same thing.
But they are actually quite different.
In this post I want to explain to you exactly why you are precious to God, and why that should touch your heart in a different way than being valuable to God, or worthy to God.
Which you are. Let’s dive on in!
What It Means to Be Precious to God
Let’s talk about what it means to be precious to God.
Remember how I said being precious to God is different than being valuable or worthy to God?
Well, let’s break this down a bit.
These words are similar in the sense that they are all words used by our Heavenly Father to describe how loved and special we are to Him. However, each word does have a different meaning.
When we understand the difference in those meanings, it really helps us to understand our self-worth and ultimately, our true identity in Christ.
Understanding the difference between something that is precious and something that is valuable can be quite confusing because they really are very similar.
The reason for this is because the words “precious” and “valuable” are synonyms of each other and are often used interchangeably.
Something that is precious is often times also something that is of great value, but the meaning behind using the word “precious” tends to be something quite different.
Precious refers to something that is deeply treasured, truly beloved, and dear to your heart.
One resource I love when it comes to understanding God’s great love for you is Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Click here or the image below to check it out!
Precious tends to insinuate a person’s feelings in terms of sentimental and emotional value.
In separate posts I discuss what it means to be valuable and worthy to God. I highly recommend reading them. 🙂 All you have to do is click the below links to check them out!
Read More:
What Does It Means to Be “Valued” by God?
You Are Precious in His Sight
You are precious in His sight. Did you know that God thinks about you?
Psalm 139:17-18 says:
“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up, you are still with me!”
Psalm 139:17-18 (NLT)
This psalm was written by King David, and just look at how many exclamation points he uses in this passage!
David fully grasped how deeply loved He is by God. It’s clear that David is completely in awe of just how much God loves him!
Let me clarify, David is in awe of just how precious he is to God.
However, you are precious in God’s sight, too!
The reason you are precious to God is because He has deep feelings and affections for you.
To better understand this, it might be helpful to listen to the difference between valuable and precious when use it in a sentence:
“My employee is very valuable to me.”
If you owned a business, it would be completely appropriate to say that someone is “valuable” to your business if they provide excellent work.
This is a normal word to use because although you might have an emotional attachment to that employee, what you’re really insinuating is they’ve earned your respect because of their work performance.
However, let’s use this exact same example but insert the word “precious”:
“My employee is very precious to me.”
You don’t typically hear people say an employee is precious to their business because the word “precious” takes on a whole other meaning.
The word precious insinuates someone’s feelings and affections for a person in a much more intimate way than they are simply doing a great job at work.
However, you do commonly hear the word “precious” being used is in the context of a parent talking about their child.
Check out Francis Chan’s book, Crazy Love for even more info on God’s great love for you! Click here or the image below to view.
For example: You commonly hear parents say, “My child is precious to me.”
You don’t really hear parents say, “My child is valuable to me” because it insinuates a cost associated with them being their child. As if the child somehow earned the affections of your heart.
However, the word “precious” doesn’t insinuate that at all. To say that a child is precious simply expresses feelings of deeply loving and treasuring your child.
Another example is from the Lord of the Rings: Gollum didn’t call his ring “my valuable”, he called it “my precious.”
Gollum called it “my precious” because he had deep feelings and affections for the ring.
It was precious to him.
Although Gollum’s ring certainly was of great value, Gollum had affections for the ring in a deeply intimate and (creepily) loving way.
PS: I realize this is a silly example…but it’s also kinda effective. Haha!
Now taking all that information into account, imagine that THAT is how God views you! You are certainly extremely valuable to God, but you are also precious in His sight.
Read More: You Are Valuable to God
You are precious to God.
God has feelings and affections for you in a deeply intimate way.
Deuteronomy 14:2 says:
“Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be His treasured possession.”
Deuteronomy 14:2 (NIV)
You are precious to God just like a child is precious to their parents. God sees you as His treasure, His beloved, and His darling.
Never forget that you are God’s treasured possession, His precious son or daughter.
Francis Chan’s book, Crazy Love is a gold mine for explaining God’s great love for you! Click here or the image below to view.
More Resources for Understanding What it Means to Be Precious to God
My signature course, Passport from Heaven will also help you understand what it means to be precious to God!
In it I do a deep dive on what the Bible says about your identity in Christ, and how knowing these truths will quite literally change your life. As you can tell, I am very passionate about it. If you’re interested, click here to check it out!
Bible Study Resources!
Just for fun, here’s some of my favorite Bible study tools that have really helped me in understanding the Word of God:
Favorite Bibles and Commentaries:
Favorite Books and Devotionals:
Bible Journaling Supplies:
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- Dual Tip Brush Highlighters (they don’t bleed!)
- Colorful Sticky Notes (I’m a big fan of the color scheme in their Bali Collection)
- Bible Tabs (Rose colored)
- Washi Tape
- Bible Journaling Collection Set
Read More
What Does It Mean to Be God’s Child?
What Does It Mean to Be Made in the Image of God?
What Does It Mean to Be Fearfully & Wonderfully Made?
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Did this post help you understand why you are precious to God? Let me know in the comments below!
This is the best, I wish I got this type of encouragement and affection in all my life, and so do people who feel like empty dirt….This manage my hopes up a bit that god loves all of us because we belong with him, and there are times that I’m scared of him or even want to run away because God is so righteous and holy that I want to please him, and there are some scriptures in the old testament to say god gets angry and sometimes smite people and he mentioned that everyone will be judged for every word they say….I’m aware it’s justified and for a good cause I’m very anxious because of it…I don’t want to
hide and be hesitant…..I needed to be calmed down and reassured
Thank you. Many blessings. Loved everything I read its beautiful knowing how much you love the Lord. God bless you and thanks for sharing your love for God.
Thank you so much, Cathy! <3
I was looking up phrases that conveyed the idea of God “treasuring” us, and came across this post, of being “precious” to Him, so glad I did! Bright comfort for a sore heart that has been “valuable”, but unsure if I was truly “precious” to my Heavenly Father. Thank you, and many, many blessings on your words! These were sweet “apples of gold” to me tonight.
This warms my heart, Lynne! Thank you so much for your comment!