Wednesday Words of Encouragement

I Peter 2:4-10 ~

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans 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."

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

"The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,"

and,

"A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall."

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

It took quite a few times of reading this through to finally be able to wrap my brain around these verses.  I saw some really neat comparisons between God's plan for Jesus and His plan for us.

Jesus
► Living Stone
► Chosen by God
► Cornerstone (the stone that is pivotal to holding up the foundations)
► He is the high priest
► He is precious to God
► He is the light

Us
► Living stones
► Chosen by God
► We are built upon the cornerstone
► We are a spiritual house
► Royal priesthood
► Belong to God
► Called out of darkness into the light

I love how we are an extension of all that Jesus was intended for. He is the Living Stone and we are living stones built upon Him who is the cornerstone for our spiritual lives. He is the high priest and we are a royal priesthood serving with Him. He is precious to God. We belong to God. We were called out of darkness and into the light that is Jesus.

What a wonderful analogy! God chose you. He called you out of darkness and you are precious to Him. Our spiritual lives are built stone by stone on the the truth of Jesus Christ who is the foundation of our faith.

Rejoice in that knowledge today! Think of the legacy we are leaving as we continue building spiritual houses with our children's lives and all the lives that we touch and who are changed by our witness.

I can envision a huge city of homes that extends as far as the eye can see. Each of those homes is filled with the love and light of people who have come to know the One who is the true light!

That is great encouragement to me and I hope to you as well. Let's thank God for the wonderful work He is doing in our lives.