Cornerstone

Back when I was in high school and lived in another town we went to a little church and I sang in the youth choir. You know it had to be a little church to let me sing in the choir. They wouldn't even let me sing in third grade chorus. Let's just say I'm musically challenged. Anyway, one song we sang always stuck in my head--"Cornerstone."

This morning when I was having my quiet time I was reading a book to go along with my Bible reading. It's one I picked up at an estate sale. It's called the "New Bible Dictionary" although I don't think it's too new since it was published in 1962. It has been really interesting reading some of the historical information that goes along with biblical passages.

Anyway, as I was reading (I'm up to architecture in the dictionary) it mentioned the cornerstone and that's what I wanted to talk about today.

I Peter 2:4-6 "As you come to Him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him--you also are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it 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."

Ephesians 2:19-22 "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit."

Here's what the New Bible Dictionary had to say, "The 'cornerstone' in I Peter 2 was the block at the corner of the foundation whose true shape and accurate laying determined the symmetry and lay-out of the whole structure."

Isn't that interesting? His true shape (like His true character) and His accurate laying (His laying down of His life in accordance with all the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah) determined the symmetry (the way it fits together) and lay-out (function and flow) of the whole structure (His church).

Not only that, but we are also part of the spiritual house, a dwelling where God lives by His Spirit. How awesome is that! That same One who laid the foundation for the church has laid the foundation for our spiritual life to be built up. He wants to build us up so that our whole structure resembles the one He has layed down.

We rise to become a temple. A temple in which the God of all dwells and we serve as priests, offering spiritual sacrifices.

How often do we remember what we were truly meant to be?
How many times today will we be willing to make spiritual sacrifices?

May we remember as we go through our day and make our choices and interact with the world around us just who it is that is holding us up and is the foundation for all we do. And who it is that is in us. We never have to be put to shame.