Which Would You Rather Be?

Which Would You Rather Be?

“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.” 1 Peter 2:5 NIV

Some time ago I was invited to attend a cultural history conference. On the chalkboard at one session the following statement was written: “We’re each tiles in an unfinished mosaic set in sand that is ever becoming whatever we want it to be.” The discussion leader said this metaphor depicted the impact of individuals on the evolution of culture. With over 6.6 billion people in the world today, if each one of us decided to make the mosaic “whatever we want it to be,” can you picture the chaos that would result? When the conference participants tried to agree on what they wanted to depict, an argument resulted, and the idea of trying to create the mosaic literally fell apart!

As the group quit this frustrating exercise, I thought of the above verse. Christians are not just flat tiles in a crazy-quilt pattern that changes every time a new piece is added. Instead, we’re “living stones” being put into specific places by the Lord (Acts 2:47) so that “a spiritual house,” the “Church of the living God” (1 Tim. 3:15), is being built up according to His orderly plan (Eph. 2:19-22). Furthermore, we don’t just lie there; we become a “holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Finally, in the mosaic metaphor, every person, good or bad, is a tile set in sand; but the living stones of our spiritual house are only those who claim Christ as their rock-solid foundation. The Lord Himself tells us that he who builds his house on the sand is foolish and his structure is doomed to collapse (Mt. 7:24-27).

Which would you rather be: a dead tile in a flat mosaic set in sand, or a living stone in a “spiritual house” that’s built on a firm foundation? Your answer will make a difference in your life now, and for all eternity.

By Larry Ondrejack