Built For His Glory

A Reflection on the Second Reading for May 10th, 2020:
Fifth Sunday of Easter

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1 PETER 2

4Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious; 5and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For it stands in scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to shame." 7To you therefore who believe, he is precious, but for those who do not believe, "The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner," 8and "A stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall"; for they stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
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Pause. Pray. 

And then read more...

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​In the quarantine, it’s easy to convince ourselves that the right now is the only thing that matters and will ever matter. It’s easy to think of our dutiful citizenship as a mark of merit. Our reasons for making this sacrifice is for Queen and Country and that this action for the other is really because we’re good citizens and that’s what good citizens do. How many of us are puffing up our feathers thinking of what a good job we’re doing at social distancing and that we deserve a merit badge? How many of us have heard Horace’s old line “Dulcē et decōrum est prō patriā mōrī”//”How sweet and fitting to die for one’s homeland”?


A beautiful sentiment, but it falls far short of the truth. I’m not sacrificing for Canada! Canada is where I live (and I am rightfully proud to be Canadian for loads of good reasons), but it’s not my purpose or my Cornerstone. Because our cornerstone in life is the foundation of everything and the thing for which we would sacrifice every earthly good. I am living in this dark age with my eyes focused as much as possible on my purpose: to declare the marvellous deeds of Christ. That can look like all sorts of things, but right now it looks like doing this very difficult thing of sitting still. How I’m using this time matters — and my actions in many ways declare what my cornerstone truly is. Am I serving Christ, or am I serving the world? Am I using it to obsessively watch the news? Spending beyond my means online shopping? Or am I sacrificing for my neighbour and serving the vulnerable?


Let’s face it, all of us are dying for something (either inside or out). God has chosen me and called me by name. He has saved me from the deep mire of my sin. So, if I’m dying for anything or anyone, I want it to be for the One who died for me when I was still a sinner. Right now, the dying I’m being called to isn’t exactly walking in front of a firing squad, but it’s tough in its own way. A death of how I have defined self. A death of the control I try to exert on every element of my life. A death of my shower schedule if I’m honest (although I doubt Jesus is keen on that).


Because from that small death, I can understand more closely the death Jesus suffered for me. My motivation isn’t to endure this small death for my country or the economy, but for the love of my neighbour as Jesus called me to do. I fail more often than I succeed, but I try to measure my actions based on whether they’re building on Christ as my cornerstone, or if they’re breaking down the groundwork He has laid in me. Am I building myself into a spiritual house, or degrading myself into a pit? Christ doesn’t want to be our stumbling block. He has come and died for us to quite literally build us up. Lord, I invite you to make of me a house so designed for Your glory that no one can deny it.

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Stephanie Potter

Photo by Karim MANJRA on Unsplash

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