Ezekiel 1:1-3:15 / Hebrews 3 / Psalm 104:1-23 / Proverbs 26:24-26
The Bible calls us, as God’s people, many things, or putting it another way, we are compared to many things in scripture. We are called sheep, jars of clay, and the bride, just to name a few. Sometimes we wonder why we are not simply called people: men, women, and children. Although we are also asked to be like a little child, so there’s that!
As you can see, the items we are compared to vary from humans to animals, but we are also compared to non-living things. In Hebrews 3:6 we are told that we are His house. Did you know you are a house? But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are His house if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
We are God’s house if we hold firmly to our confidence and hope. There is another place in scripture that refers to God’s people as a house. 1 Peter 2:4-5: “You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.” New Living Translation, (NLT).
The above analogy is interesting because both my husband Jeff and I have experience in the construction industry. I worked both as a draftswoman for a construction company and as a cost estimator for a millwork company. I also took several classes in college that taught construction. It fascinates me that the Bible speaks about us using construction terms.
Jesus is called a living cornerstone. A cornerstone in construction sets the initial placement of a building and causes the rest of the building to be square and stable. That perfectly describes what Jesus does in our lives. We are called living stones, but also a spiritual temple. Another important point to note is that living stones must be built together to form a spiritual temple or building. You can’t be a building all by yourself. Even Jesus is not a building alone.
With Jesus as our cornerstone, we are being built together by Holy Spirit as a house for God’s Spirit. Yes, we each individually house His Spirit, but as we come together and allow ourselves to be built together, we create a structure that can withstand any storm. Imagine though that as you’re being built beside another stone, we don’t necessarily fit easily together. What would a good mason do to insure two stones fit together?
He would do two things. He would apply mortar so that the two stones bond, but he would also chisel off the rough edges so that the final structure is strong and pleasing to the eye. I didn’t say it was always fun to be built together into a stone house. The chiseling comes when we learn to live together in love; forgiving one another as Christ Jesus has forgiven us (see Ephesians 4:32). The mortar, I believe, is God’s Spirit giving us what we need to advance His Kingdom and to love one another as well as those who are lost in the world.
Before I end this post, I want to speak about our confidence and our hope mentioned above. These are the things we should hold onto as we’re being built together, and let me tell you, you’re going to need these two things!
Confidence, according to Strong’s Concordance, is: “Freedom in speaking, unreservedness in speech, openly, frankly, without concealment, free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, boldness…” and several other things. As you can see by these definitions, when we are being built alongside other Jesus followers, we must be bold to speak to God, ourselves, and one another. Why? Because your fellow followers need to be encouraged and given strength and that is part of what we must do for one another.
What about hope? Hope in the Strong’s Concordance is: “Expectation of good, joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation, and faith.” Our attitude and outlook matter so much regarding how far we will progress in the Christian walk. Negativity will stop you short of your God destiny every time. But hope in God, trusting in His promises and His Word will take us to the very end of our journey and we’ll be excited to arrive at our eternal reward with Him.
