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. 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.’ –I Peter 2:4-6
There wasn’t a man in Maryland who could build a stone wall like my father. Daddy was able to combine his building skills with his artistic talent to design walls that resembled something out of a Robert Frost poem. His walls were weathered sentries, balanced and sturdy. When my father would build a wall, he wouldn’t rush. He would unload a big pile of boulders then sort through them, putting aside the ones for the wall. Daddy would pick up a rock, brush off the dirt, turn it over in his hands, and line it up, this way and that, placing it just right in the wall. Then Daddy would cement it in with the trowel.
Picture the saints who, through the ages, saw persecution and pestilence, holocaust and heartache – they realized they were living stones being trowelled into the kingdom building. They understood that suffering was, at times, sickening, but life was worth living if it meant more time granted for the world to hear the good news.
Like these saints, we experience the biting reality of suffering; but we also remember the enormously high price Jesus placed on a soul – suffering is bad, but a soul lost is worse (Matthew 16:26). We realize God is permitting something he hates (pain and persecution) so that something he prizes (more souls salvaged) could be achieved.
I am happy, dear Lord, to be a living stone that you have trowelled into your kingdom building. I pray that many more living stones will be added today to your “wall of salvation.”
Blessings,
