1 Peter 2:4-10

1 Peter 2:4-10
Contemporary English Version (CEV)

  Imagine you're a mason working on a building.  You have an eye for the right stone, knowing exactly what you need, and so you search and search in the hopes of finding the right stones to construct the building.  It's hard work, and each stone requires individual work, chiseling and polishing until it is just right.  Then on to the next one.
  Well, now picture God working with us, living stones.  We squirm and resist God's efforts to form and mold us.  We hesitate when God tries to place us where we need to be, and just when it feels like God is placing the next row, we jump out of the wall and God starts all over again.
  God is patient and kind, and over the course of your life, God is molding and forming and shaping us into part of something huge, something grand and beautiful and glorious.  We don't want to miss it!!!  We have been chosen, and we are special and holy because of who chose us and what he has chosen us for, not because of anything unique to us -- but God needs to work on us, and we need to cooperate.  God drew us from darkness into light, from no identity to a Godly identity, and rather than squabble about who is most important, let us fix our eyes on Christ, the model for each and every living stone, and allow God to shape and form our wayward hearts so that we might resemble him more closely, live as he did, filled with selfless love.