Stones are a basic part of our lives. We’ve been around stones since birth. We’ve played with them, thrown them, skipped them if we lived close to a lake. We built things with them, and stepped on them with our bare feet.

In 1 Peter 2:4-5, we see how “stones” influence our lives. As Christians each of us are stones in our churches and our Christian communities. Verses 4-5,”Come to Him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight and /like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Verse 5 brings Jesusthe living stone—and the Christians close together when verse 5 refers to the Christian community itself as living stones. When we look at a rock, we do not think about it being alive. As living stones, we are in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and to one another.

I think of the stone fence in the poem “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost where the two neighbors met to repair the fence by putting back the stones that had fallen from the wall. As Christians we have to be careful to keep our living stones in place, but we need to be certain that we are not building stone walls between ourselves and others. It is important that we care for one another, and be there to help one another, and always be ready to include other “living stones” in our groups.

Think about how warm a rock gets when it has been in the direct sunlight all day. It is warm, sometimes hot, to the touch. That is the way our lives are when lived in the presence of Christ. It is our relationship with Christ that fills us with life and makes us living stones - ready to be charged with spiritual energy.

This super charged energy that we are given from God helps us to make spiritual offerings that come from our innermost selves, from our very hearts and souls. Spiritual offerings come in many forms. One is through prayer. It could be prayers of confession, intercession, petition, and or prayers of praise and of thanks giving. It could be the sharing or our many different talents for the glory of God.

Whatever we do - knitting sweaters for the needy, giving out food from the food pantry, leading youth groups, teaching Bible study lessons in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ – could be considered to be a spiritual offering.

It is important that we as “living stones” take part in our churches and in our communities. Perhaps each of us needs to ask ourselves this question, ”What kind of stone am I?”

Am I a stepping stone that helps others to grow in the faith? Am I a stone that is an obstacle to others? Do I keep others from learning about Christ or cause them to turn away from Christ? Am I a stone that others can build on and be encouraged to accomplish their goals? Have we built our lives on the solid rock of Jesus Christ?

Let us live our lives as living stones, sharing the love of Christ and telling of His grace and mercy so that at others may know the warm peace of being a “living stone” in Jesus Christ.