Friday, December 29, 2006
I guess you could call it creative architecture. Or you could just call it a big stone in the middle of a high brick wall. I saw this phenomenon when I visited the new station of one of our radio partners recently. The front wall of the station has this big old 230-pound stone, about halfway up the wall in the middle of the bricks. There's no way that could be mistake or an accident. It is, in fact, a message. A masonry contractor offered to do some of the work on the station, and somewhere along the way he thought about a stone like this. He thought about what the Bible says about Jesus being the "chief cornerstone." So he went to the local quarry and found this impressive piece of rock, which he installed in a central spot in the front of the building, with the "chief cornerstone" scripture reference under it. I love the reason he gave for this unusual feature. He said, "You build everything around the cornerstone."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Build a Life That Works."
That's a builder who knows how to build a life, not just a building. And he's following the life blueprint laid out for us in the Bible, the only book God ever wrote. God is the Master Architect, not only of the universe, but of your life and mine. He tells us how to build it in our word for today from 1 Peter 2, beginning with verse 4. "As you come to Him, the living Stone (speaking of Jesus) - rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him - you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house ... 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.'"
Those verses are all about Jesus. Your life is supposed to be all about Jesus; with Him as the cornerstone, with everything else in your life built on Him: your relationships, your marriage, your money, your career, your priorities. But maybe you're building on another cornerstone right now. Slowly but surely, you've pushed Jesus from the center of things to the edge. He's the King of kings. He's the Lord of lords; but you've pushed Him to the margins. You can tell by how little time you spend with Him, by how little you make Him the bottom line in your decisions, or by the things you do that break His heart. But count on this: unless your life is being built on Jesus as the center, what you're building is not going to last, isn't going to satisfy, isn't going to work.
The contractor who put that cornerstone in the middle of the wall found it at a quarry on the reject pile. A stone the builders had rejected. It now stands representing the Chief Cornerstone. Jesus is the Cornerstone rejected by man, but loved by those who are building their life around Him. Maybe you've made the mistake of rejecting Jesus as the center of your life. He's the reason you're here. In fact, the Bible says you were "created by Him and for Him" ( Colossians 1:16). He gave His life for your sin so you could belong to Him - so you could live the life you were made for. If you don't build on Jesus as your cornerstone, you will fall on Him, as the Bible says, "into the hands of the living God" ( Hebrews 10:31). Would you let today be the day you open your heart to the One who loved you enough to die for you? We'd love to help you get started with Him if you'll just meet us at our website, which is yoursforlife.net.
Jesus is the only Cornerstone that can support everything you face in your life. Make sure that you're building it all around Him.