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1 Peter 2:4-5a,6 – Come to [the Lord], a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house. See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. (NRSV)
A stone wall was planned as a retaining wall above our house to keep the sandy bank from eroding. A lovely, mature cedar tree grew there, and we didn't want it to topple onto our house. My husband hired a skilled local mason, and prepared for construction by gathering large boulders from a granite outcrop high on a mountain road. Since it was natural rock, the boulders came in all shapes and sizes. There was even one shaped like a fish, an ancient symbol of Christ. The mason patiently fitted each of the jagged rocks into place like a giant jigsaw puzzle. The fish rock was placed in the middle of the wall, visible to all who passed by, and a subtle reference to our Christian faith. The cedar tree remained intact and was supported by our sturdy and beautiful wall.
Just as our wall was planned for a purpose, God planned that His Son Jesus, precious in His sight, would enter into our world to become one of us. Just as our stone wall was built from many rocks gathered together, let's allow ourselves to be built together into a spiritual house. Just as the fish rock was a feature piece in our wall for all to see, so Christ is the Cornerstone of our spiritual house. As the rocks in the stone wall were chosen, we are specially chosen by God to be living stones. Each one of us — like each rock — is unique and different, but we are made to fit together to be part of His people, His functioning body.
1 Peter 2:9 – You are … God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (NRSV)
We first have to recognize our need of God, and ask Him, through His Son, to be the centre of our lives. We become one of His people. Built together in a structure and unified, we are then instructed to show Jesus to a world that is broken and fragmented by sin. Let us combine each of our distinctive gifts and talents, and let's be effective in proclaiming His mighty acts to those who don't yet know Him. Let's be true living stones.
Prayer: Lord, thank You that You chose us to be part of Your eternal house. Help us to work together and take the initiative to reveal to the world all the wonderful things that You've done for us. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray. Amen.
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Thursday, March 27, 2025 – In Zambia — Choma Youth Centre — God continues to bring youth to the centre. We have up to 30 youth for daily programmes but have had about 200 pass through in 2024. We started having street kids join for our sports programme; a while ago, 5 gave their
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Thank you for your words today.
Thanks for the encouragement, Alice.
Thank you for writing. I enjoy the imagery.
Alice,
Thank you for your thoughtful and touching devotional today.
What a memorable picture you paint with your well-chosen and inspired words and scripture, today, Alice! Grateful to read it today.
This is most inspiring at this time. Since worship went digital, I have been to many churches other than the one I usually attend. It has given a stronger sense of being “one” in Christ, as He is building His Church and Kingdom on earth. Your writing reflected that for me today!
God bless you and keep you,
(BC)
Good morning Alice,
Thank you for writing today’s devotional. Enjoyed reading it and you did a very good analogy of the building of your stone wall and how Jesus creates a unique structure within each of us. We each have talents to present to the world and it is our duty to use these talents wisely and especially share with others the love of our Lord Jesus. Blessings for your writing.
Good Morning Alice
I really enjoyed your devotional today. It sure gives a different perspective when looking at rocks. My husband is very experienced with building rock walls since there are so many volcanic rocks here and properties are divided mostly by rock walls, some higher than others. This is an island of rock. Also, I found out the rock walls provide needed heat for the grape vines to grow and produce grapes.
Love how God has everything planned and with purposes we may not always realize.
God bless and have a great weekend.
Good morning Alice,
What a wonderful example of your Christian faith that you wove into a beautiful devotional as a reminder of why God has chosen us for his purpose. Many parts who are all different help to make a community of faith. Some of us might be a little jagged but we are meant to fit in in God’s plan. When we receive Jesus into our hearts and build our relationship with him, we are ready to fulfill God’s plan for our lives. Thank you for building a wall centred on the fish of your faith as a visible reminder to trust in the Lord and to do his work. May we all realize the importance of each stone in God’s plan. May you have a blessed day.
Alice: What an excellent thought and wonderful example for us! Of course, we know that God conferred on each of His children’s special spiritual gifts which we should each exercise to the fullest extent. We often focus on discerning our individual gifts. However, your story provides a wonderful illustration of a very important additional point: In God’s church, we must marshal our various gifts to fit together around our Cornerstone and to provide the strongest earthly Church we can!
We are all different but valuable. Each stone has a place.
A pile of stones has a certain strength – but when fitted together the wall is much stronger!
We do best for God when we are fitted together in unity. Strength arises from supporting each other and our overall Master.
We are strongest when our structure is carefully built around our Cornerstone: Jesus Christ.
Together, we can and must provide the strongest wall to hold Christ up and to hold off the world!
All are welcome to be supported within our retaining wall!
Thank you, Alice!
(Florida)
Thanks Alice.
A good analogy.
Blessings.
This brings to mind and gives fresh meaning to:
“the stone that the builders rejected, has become the cornerstone”.
Dear Alice,
“Living Stones” is an intriguing new concept for me. I will study more on it. Thank you for helping me with a new perspective. I pray blessings on your writing.
Good morning Alice,
I enjoyed your devotional and I wanted you to know that.
Blessings.