This has been playing in my head since Sunday morning when we sang it at church. It's a powerful song. Click on the words to hear it! But I also wondered a bit about what I was singing. What is a cornerstone? A cornerstone is a stone at the corner of a building uniting two intersecting walls. Such a stone, often inscribed, laid at a ceremony marking the origin of a building. It was very important in ancient days - being a large stone, the beginning of the structure, that held up the whole building. So, that stone had utmost importance - everything else was dependent on it being correct and strong.
I love analogies/word pictures. I love the picture of us (weak stones) held up and made strong by Jesus, who is of utmost importance, correct, strong, level, the origin of us. The storm called life is blowing all around us, but that Cornerstone will support us. We can completely depend on Him. He is our Rock, our Love, our Shelter, our All.
Recently I, and many others, have noticed how 'under attack' Christianity and the church is. Is the attack getting worse or are we getting worse? Probably both.
Paul wrote, "There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.” (2 Tim. 3:1-5)
Paul also warned, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Tim. 4:3).We are here for a short time. Now is the time to link arms with our brothers and sisters in Christ, lay aside our emotions which can not be trusted, believe that Christ is our Cornerstone supporting us in the storm, and run this race together until the day of His return .
"Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord." (Eph.2:20 NLT, bold type mine)
"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Heb 10:23-25)Image courtesy of George Stojkovic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net