Being Built

2 Kings 20; Isaiah 38,39; Psalms 75; 1 Peter 2

“As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 2:4, 5

Peter users the metaphor of masonry to describe God as a master mason, constructing a temple. Jesus was chosen as the capstone, or cornerstone, for the building. The capstone holds the weight of both sides of an archway, while the cornerstone sets the course of the whole building and its structural integrity. The Church is formed of many living stones placed in the hands of the “Master Mason”, and then fitted together to be a temple God indwells by his Spirit. The stone the builders rejected was usually because of the shape of the grain of the stone. We, too, as “aliens and strangers” in this world are rejected by men, yet chosen by God. This collective expression of the kingdom of God in the form of a temple of worship reminds us that our value as individual living stones comes as we place ourselves in God’s hands. He is shaping us and building something beautiful.

“Father God, I offer myself into your hands against his day, for your glory.”