His Not Ours

DEVOTION 1 PETER HIS NOT OURS 1 Peter 2:4-6 4 As you come to him, the living Stone — rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 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. 6 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." NIV What does it mean to be a living stone? First, I think we have to come to terms with the simple fact a stone does not get to pick where in the building it is placed. The builder sets out all his stones and looks to see which one would be best in which location. Of course in the case God is the building and He is building His church, His temple, a place where He will reside so to speak. If we think for one moment that we have the freedom to choose how we will serve the Kingdom of God, I think we might me just a bit mistaken. Sure we have the free will to choose to follow Jesus, to accept Him as our Lord and Savior, but after that God makes the choice as to where we should be serving as a member of His church. He knows us better then we know ourselves and fits us together perfectly with other believers so that His temple is just the way He wants it. I think we get in trouble when we allow our feelings, our emotions, or our self-centeredness to rule over what local church we attend. Sometimes we are drawn based on the personality of the Pastor, sometimes we leave because of the same, or because something changed that we do not like, or that we were not being paid enough attention to by the pastor, or as host of other selfish reasons. What if that is where God had placed us as His loving stone? What if that is the precise location God wanted to do something wonderful in our lives? What if that is where He was going to use us for the advancement of His Kingdom, and we walked out because someone or something offended us? I do not think God allows all the stones to keep moving around in His temple until they find a place to fulfill their self-centered ego. I believe we need to stay focused on the task God has given each one of us in the place He has called or placed us within His temple. Perhaps the actual physical locations are not as important, maybe He does move us around from time to time into a newer better location within His temple, but the key is He moves us, not we move us. The point is we are His living stones, not ours.