We are Living Stones

Week Fourteen

We are Living Stones

We come to Christ, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him. We 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. For the scripture says, ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’ 1 Peter 2:4-6.

Jesus was the first living stone. All through scripture we see rocks as symbolizing a solid foundation. The foundation of our faith was built on this bedrock, Jesus. But stones are not alive. How can we possibly become living stones? 

As we find out about Jesus, we discover that he arose from the dead. Stones, rocks these are dead. People become like rocks when we die. There is no life there, there is no breath. 

But God is able to make stones live, he brought Jesus back from the dead, an impossibility but foundational in our faith walk. It is this basis on which we place our belief. If Jesus wasn’t dead, if he didn’t rise from the dead, then our faith is in nothing. Jesus was dead, just like a rock, but he was made alive. 

In Job 14:13-14 we hear Job say, “If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me! If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.” That time came when Jesus was resurrected.

Jesus has promised the same for each one of us that believes in him. That even though we will someday die, yet will we live.

Over and over again in the scripture we are promised eternal life because of our belief in Christ. 1John 5:11-12 tells us...and this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Again in John 3:15 we are reminded that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. In John 6:47 Jesus tells his disciples, “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.”

How are we being build into a spiritual house? As believers we work together to enlarge the kingdom of God. Jesus is the foundation and we place our lives in him and encourage one another. Our belief in the promise makes us into living stones.

In John 7:38 Jesus says, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” This scripture reminds me of a passage in Exodus 17: 5-6 The Lord answered Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock of Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” Again in Numbers 20:11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

Are we like those rocks in the old testament. I believe that is a pretty accurate picture of believers as living stones. We who have accepted Christ now have the spirit of the living God alive within us and God’s spirit wants to use us to minister to others. To be living stones with the love of God gushing out of us to meet the needs of those we meet every day.

The love that we have been shown and the grace that God has given us should be passed on to others. What a beautiful picture of Christ. Rocks just don’t ooze water and yet that is what God can do through us. Especially when we are dead to ourselves. It is in this dying to self that God can use us the most. 

We too, like Christ, are rejected for our beliefs, but we, like Christ are chosen by God and precious to him. We know that someday we will be like Christ, eternally alive.  Not by anything we have done, but by his blood which covers us and cleanses us from all sin. That is amazing.

We are not solitary in our belief. We are being built into a spiritual house. We are connected by our belief in Christ and by the Holy Spirit. We need each other and as more and more people come to a belief in Christ we lift him higher and higher. 

Being interconnected is a way to show the world our strength. There is one Christ and even though we may come from different denominations and have some beliefs that differ, the one element that is the same is Christ Jesus. He died for all sinners in the world, his blood covers each believer. Let’s lift Jesus up to the world and show them our oneness with him.

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for illustrating your love to us through things that we know, things we see every day. Like rocks. How very amazing to think that we could become living stones. It is even more amazing that you could use us, worthless as we are, to spread your love throughout the world. What a display of power and might. 

We bless you Lord and choose to trust your word. Give us opportunities to share our faith in Christ Jesus with more and more people every day. May we lift Christ higher as more people come to a belief in him and may this spiritual house continue to grow. In his name we pray. Amen.