1 Peter 2:1-8. Living Stones.

 

 

One of my grandsons collects rocks. He purchased a piece of fossilized wood and had it cut in half and polished. It revealed a wonderful pattern and texture. Then he had a small stone which he polished. Polishing removed the dirt, ugliness, dross and ruggedness to reveal a beautiful colour and a most attractive structure.

 In God’s sight we are stones and pebbles, not outwardly attractive or appealing. Eph.2:1-3. Psalm 8:4. Rom. 3:23. However, beneath the outward appearance, our all seeing God beholds our uniqueness, our beauty and our latent power to honour Him. Our Lord went to a lot of time and effort to ‘collect us’ from the quarries of this world Galatians 1:4. 1 John 5:19). It cost Him a pierced side, nailed hands, feet and dagger like thorns biting into His brow. The owners of the ‘quarry’ must have thought Jesus mad to pay such a price for such common, rather grubby and rugged stones. Especially when those stones ultimately cost Jesus His life to secure them. The world and the Devil and demons must have laughed.

The resurrection removed the smile and silenced their laughter!

Since Pentecost Jesus has been collecting stones and pebbles for His Kingdom. He chooses some rather odd samples. He is the God who loves lapidary. Eph 2:10. He takes we encrusted stones and through the moral and spiritual equivalents, cuts, polishes and engraves our lives. The purpose = release the treasure He saw within so that it will glorify Him and bless us eternally. The word to describe such a process is discipline. Hebrews 12:11. Stones don’t have any choice. You and I do. Therefore, a key word = ‘yield’. ‘Present’ (Romans 12:1-2.

 ‘He’s a rough diamond God is polishing.’ We are not all diamonds. We are all gems of some type or other, each with our own unique pattern, texture, beauty.  The mining museum at Zeehan [Tasmania] has a rock collection. There ordinary stones with the most amazing patterns and colours were displayed. Lights revealed their beauty.

Christ Jesus, He is the Light of our life and as He cuts and polishes (sanctifies and ministers to us by His word and Spirit) we become His stone of glory. Paul in Titus 2:10 ‘ornament to the doctrine of God our Saviour.’ We become, or should become, men and women who attract people to what the Lord has done in and revealed though us. This isn’t for us to boast but to testify to the redeeming, liberating wonder of Christ’s power in redeeming us. It is imperative for us to ensure that His light within isn’t dimmed by self – obsession, disobedience or switched off by Satan’s cunning. 1 John 1:5-7.

 The engraving feature of lapidary? In the O. T. the High Priest wore a breastplate with 12 different precious stones. On each one was a name of one of the twelve tribes. When our Lord claimed us for His own treasure He also became our High Priest. By implication we are borne into the presence of the Father on the heart of our Lord.

 Be encouraged to handle the rough and tumble of life with a positive outlook! He is endeavouring to reveal His glory in you and me. He is using us to attract people to the power of the cross. He is drawing out of us the hidden beauty when the Light of Jesus Christ glows though us. Old chorus: ‘Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me…’