Do you remember the excitement, anticipation, and maybe dread that you experienced as a kid when it was time to try out or apply for something that you really wanted to be a part of? Maybe it was a sports team, a theater production, or applying to a school that you wanted to attend. You'd put your best foot forward, show off all of your abilities and credentials and pray that what you had to offer was enough to get you chosen to participate. Sometimes you made the cut, sometimes you didn't.
In I Peter 2 we are told that God is up to something. He is building a spiritual house and he's using people like you and me to do it. Now that's something I want to be a part of! But what could possibly qualify us to participate in a cosmic work like this?
When we come to join God in what he is doing, our personal merits are of little value. Peter says that what we have to offer is only made "acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Jesus, the cornerstone of this spiritual house, is the solid foundation by which we measure and align our life and by whose work we are justified to be included in this beautiful kingdom.
The language used in this passage to describe how God views us is staggering. God, the creator of the whole universe and all that is in it, calls us a "chosen people," his "special possession." That chosenness has nothing to do with how well we perform, how talented we are, or how popular we are with the right crowd. Our chosenness has everything to do with the goodness and mercy of God.
In Ephesians 2, Paul uses similar "spiritual house" language when talking about the work that God is doing with us. I love the way Eugene Peterson summarizes that passage in The Message:
You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all- irrespective of how we got here- in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day- a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.
At Renaissance, we talk a lot about "joining God in what he is already doing." It's less about human striving and more about tuning our spiritual hearts and eyes to see the great work that God has already started all around us and participating in it. We can't see the whole blueprint that God has for this spiritual house, but if we rest on the solid foundation of Christ we can be assured that He will make something beautiful of our meager offerings.
- Victoria Roberts
