WE ARE A SPIRITUAL HOUSE FOR GOD
I Peter 2:4-12 As you come to him, the living Stone - rejected by men 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 capstone,” and “A stone that causes men 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, a people belonging to God, 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 have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that , though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
It is interesting that Peter sees Jesus as a stone and his believers as stones too. But Jesus and we are just not stones as we might see in our driveway. We are living stones that make up a holy priesthood, holy nation and spiritual house for Jesus! I suppose Peter ses us this way in relation to Jesus, because Jesus is a perfect cornerstone that all the rest of the stones take their shape from. If the cornerstone is not correct then no matter what the rest of the stones may be like the building will not be right. The cornerstone affects the rest of the house. Jesus being God is perfect in every way, and when we ask him to forgive us of our sins and to come into our heart our transformation that leads us to perfection begins immediately. We are set free of our carnal nature, and we are filled with the Holy Spirit who begins to take the fruit of his spirit and with each passing day helps us to become more and more like Jesus. He takes the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control and multiply it over and over again. We become holy in the spiritual sense and in the physical since. Our language, actions, reactions and even our hearts desires begin to change. We become born again, new inside and out. With each day the Holy Spirit chips away at our unChrist-likeness and polishes us into a beautiful child of God.
As the Lord works with us he is also doing the same thing will millions of brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world. Together he sees us as his own. And because of this he has chosen us to be a spiritual house for the Heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit and himself to live in. We see this in John 14:17-23. God lives in each and every Christian. We are holy in the forgiveness of Jesus, the transformation of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the Heavenly Father. Each and everyone of us is special to God. We make up Jesus’ kingdom. Because we are such a holy chosen people, how should we live? Well, we should certainly try to live the life that we represent. While we are certainly still in our humanity and full of mistakes and sad to say we still sin, we are called to be holy as God is holy so we have an obligation to do our best. While the world around us wages war on our souls, we know that we have one that is greater and that is Jesus Christ our Lord. He is the righteousness of God, and because of him we are righteous as well. Jesus is able to bring us to our salvation just as we have committed it to him.
Sometimes in our struggles we tend to see ourselves in light of the weakness of our humanity, but remember that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. This includes, Satan, the powers of darkness, the evil of his world and even our own weakness. Try not to see yourself in light of the world, but in the glory of Jesus. This is how God sees us. If we only see ourselves in light of the world we will see only weakness, failure, and sin. Satan will use this to rob us of all victory and joy. Rejoice in the Lord, because we have already won the victory through Jesus. Because of Jesus we have hope and life now and forever more.
Prayer: Lord, please help us to see ourselves as you see us, so we won’t become depressed and feel defeated. Thank you for giving us your victory over sin and death. We love you Lord Jesus. We as this in your name.
