The Heavy Stone

“The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in out eyes... He who falls on this stone [Jesus] will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”

Life is a battle. Add Jesus to the equation and life becomes a little harder- in a good way. Many think following Christ is the “easy way”, the “crutch.” I would disagree. I would argue that following Jesus is by far the hardest way of life.

Every time I look to Jesus He reveals something about me that isn’t pretty- I haven’t shared this fact yet but I am a sinner; shhh, don’t tell. He shows me a character trait, struggle, misconception, etc. that I haven’t dealt with. Jesus is working constantly in our lives to make us more like him. Sad to say, change isn’t easy.

Change hurts. When there’s change there’s loss of something we know and have habituated to. Change removes something we’re reliant on and takes away what feels like our comfort zone. When we look at the above scripture, Jesus says when He falls on us we break to pieces. In my mind, this is a good thing. If you build a LEGO city and aren’t happy with how it looks, the best way to make it better is to break the creation to pieces and rebuild. Replacing what wasn’t “perfect” with, in our or his eyes, what is perfect (I miss playing with LEGO).

Christ has to break us down, chip away the hard exterior, corroded, broken, dark parts of us. He has to shatter what image of ourselves we’re holding onto so He can rebuild. Don’t get me wrong, life is a continual rebuilding process. This doesn’t happen once and we’re complete, done, ‘mission accomplished’. There are always new things coming to light, new needs and wants, new trials. There is freedom in being broken pieces; being rebuilt. There is something powerful and assuring knowing that the one rebuilding us is the one who created the earth and what inhabits the earth. He didn’t do such a bad job; I think I can trust Him.

I understand this entry looks sad, dark, and pessimistic. But, it’s not. This is great news. None of us are perfect. LIfe throws it’s share of garbage at all of us. I want to encourage all of you. I know that Christ changes people. I know that when there is shattered pieces in our lives that Christ comes along, picks them up, brushes them off, and places them back together in a way different than they were before. He makes all things new and in doing so morphs our character, integrity, soul, heart, mind, hope, joy, love, and more into the image of Jesus.

Your thoughts....

MANN