What does it mean to you to live? Is living having a good job? Does it include having a spouse you love dearly? Does living mean doing exciting and joyful things? Is it having enough money to take vacations to foreign lands? Have you thought it is being part of God’s church?
We hear some say they want to truly live. They may mean to live a life that has meaning. That may include helping others. It may mean making a difference in the world. They might mean living includes creating something useful. Or it may simply mean they want life to be one long party.
When we look at Peter’s instruction to his audience, it means none of those. He states that we are living stones being built in God’s church. It means we are being put together with other living stone, other people, on the foundation, or cornerstone, of Jesus Christ. What does that mean?
It means no one can be a lone ranger Christian. It means we need to be in community with other Christians. It means we have a place where we fit, where we fill the gap. Each one of us was created for a purpose. The big picture is God is creating his church by putting us together. He is arranging the pieces as he sees fit. He has designed each one of us to fit in a specific place to fill the gap that would otherwise go unfilled.
In layman’s terms, that means we should seek to discover our place. We should evaluate the skills, talents, and gifts God has blessed us with and discern how we can use them in his church. Being a living stone that is being placed firmly on the foundation of the cornerstone is a wonderful place to be.
I pray we all know that we are living stones. I pray we know that Jesus is the cornerstone, the foundation. I pray each one of us will seek to find our place in God’s church and be willing to fill the gap. Jesus is the cornerstone. Jesus is the foundation. You are a living stone. You are being built into the church of God.
1 Peter 2:4-5 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Marty Pressey 