Living Stones - 1

We've just returned home from a delightful time away. After a long hot drive through heavy traffic and heaving all our luggage back up our forty steps, I collapsed into an armchair to watch the late news. At some stage, after the headlines, I must have dozed off. I came to with a start and thought 'this isn't the news!'

A stand-up comedian was giving a solo performance in front of a packed theatre. I always admire the way such artists can ad lib their way and come up with just the right turn of phrase. I see it as a gift. Unfortunately though, nearly every sentence contained an expletive or sexual innuendo. Worse than this, He used God's name inappropriately. It's fair game to poke fun at religion, but to include the 'One I love' is more than hurtful! His mocking attitude fell a tad short of writing off God Himself, but that was academic, as the audience fell about laughing. At least those the camera chose, seemed to enjoy the jokes, or were they in part carried along with the euphoria of the event? What did they really feel in their hearts?

Recent surveys have shown that a large majority believe there is a God, but what do we think of Jesus? Our answer to this question is make or break, there is no middle way. We either accept or reject. So do we follow our hearts or the crowd?

Thankfully, there is a vast growing number who are prepared to stand out from the crowd. The challenge is to allow Jesus to build us into a wall of 'living stones,' that can be seen, touched and heard as love Himself.

"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." 1 Peter 2:7-8 New International Version