We’ve come to the end of another school year… which means an end to another season of writing. This summer will be my last of directing summer camp. Susan and I have worked together many summers and we would both appreciate your prayers for us, our workers, and all the kids who will attend camp this year. With two weddings fast approaching, we anticipate a summer to remember!
The last two writings reflected on a couple of Scriptures that seem to tie together: “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain” and “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” So what do you think about God’s handiwork? What kind of house is He building? Does the Creator of the earth, the moon and stars, the sun and planets, the universe and beyond know how to build a house? Since there is no ‘shabby’ work in creation, wouldn’t we expect the house God builds to be quite grand? “For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.” Hebrews 3:4-6
We are God’s house! The Creator is still in the process of building and He does not labor in vain. We are the stones He is using to build the greatest house imaginable. During my summers of high school and college I worked for Susan’s brother in construction as a stone mason. I saw Steve and others as being strong, ‘building artists.’ Laying rock is much different than laying brick as each piece is unique. The mason uses his hammer to knock off some of the edges before the stone is ready to fit on the house. I was not as talented as my boss, but he was patient with me and paid me according to the number of square feet I laid each day. One time I was about to finish a section of twenty or thirty square feet (which equated to twenty or thirty dollars) when the whole wall came crashing down. Three hours of work had gone to waste in an instant. Can you guess the problem? If you guessed ‘the builder’ you are right, but this was the builder’s error: the cornerstone had not been properly laid. When the weight reached a certain level, the cornerstone kicked out and all my work was undone.
We sometimes question whether we are proper building pieces for God’s house. We are all different with rough edges and imperfections… but our Builder knows exactly what He is doing. When we doubt, He says, “Just look at the Cornerstone. That Rock is perfectly laid and will hold more weight than you can imagine. Trust that I know how to build my house and daily offer yourself as a living stone to be shaped and placed as I see fit. One day everyone will marvel at my handiwork.”
“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.’” I Peter 2:4-6