Ye also, as lively stones are built up a spiritual house …
1 Peter 2:5
That we are living stones who are being built up, or fit together, as a spiritual house brings to mind a most interesting Scripture ...
And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building (1 Kings 6:7).
When Solomon’s Temple was being constructed, all of the chiseling, hammering, cutting, and chipping was done underneath the old city of Jerusalem so that when the stones were taken to the Temple Mount, they could be fit together in silence.
We’re living stones being fit together for an eternal temple in heaven. This life is the quarry — which explains why we always feel like we’re being chipped and chiseled. ‘Why am I next to this blockhead?’ you ask or ‘Why are they part of the family?’
Because as living stones, we constantly rub against each other, knocking rough edges off each other in the process. You see, God puts us right next to the very people He knows will smooth us down so He can build us up into a temple for His glory.
The problem is I try to get away from the blockhead I’m rubbing up against. But because God puts us in fixes to fix us, He puts us with people and in situations He knows will shape us most effectively. So if I try to fix the fix God put me in, He will be faithful to put me in another fix to fix the fix He wanted to fix in the first place!
If we don’t learn this, we’ll go from fix to fix until finally we say, ‘OK, Lord. I’m not going to try to fix this or wiggle out of that, but I’m going to embrace and accept where You have me because I know You’re doing a work on me, shaping me for eternity.’
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