WEEK 41, Day 3, Wednesday, 9 October 2019

https://esv.literalword.com/?q=Jeremiah+8%2C+9%3B+proverbs+9%3B+1+peter+2

Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Wednesday, 9 October 19:

1 Peter 2:5 — “You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood.”

You are a stone that can’t fulfill its purpose unless it is connected and oriented to the Cornerstone (Jesus) and unless it is also connected tightly to the other stones (fellow Christians). There is no space between temple stones; they each have their own unique place, support one another, and make each other immovable. The isolated Christian who is not united with the church family, the body of Christ, is not fulfilling his/her purpose and is not properly connected with the Cornerstone of Jesus, regardless of what he/she might think. We learn to love Jesus more and more primarily through strong, tight connections with family and the church body. No temple stone is independently special but rather gains value with the others. Every stone in the temple has its unique position, and they are all required for the integrity of the building. A stone that is missing or out of place is a sore sight to the Architect.

1 Peter 2:9 — “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

“If you are a Christian, you are a priest, chosen by God. As a member of the royal priesthood you have constant access to the King. If there is ever a need in your life, you don’t have to find an intermediary or enlist another priest in order to gain a hearing from the King. Your position as a royal priest allows you direct access. This privilege describes your position as a priest. However, priests also have a function. It is the responsibility of a priest to work within a priesthood. Scripture does not promote the practice of individual priests, each with a separate ministry. Rather, priests function together (Lev. 9:1). An unbiblical sense of individualism can isolate you from functioning within God’s royal priesthood as He intended.” (Henry T. Blackaby)

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 9 October 19: Strengthen your bonds with your Cornerstone and fellow ‘temple stones,’ the people of your spiritual nation. Remember Jesus’ prayer to the Father for you – “…that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (John 17:22, 23)