But just as good masons don’t use every brick presented to them, neither can Christ use every baptized church member to build up the faith community. Only those who willingly cooperate with his grace, reject sin, and surrender to his Spirit can God effectively use to build his spiritual house. However, it is not perfection that God requires of us to continue his great works, but TRUST.

The qualifications for being a “stone” that God can actually use to build this spiritual edifice includes: believing that Jesus is alive and in our midst; having a genuine and sincere repulsion for sin out of love for God; believing that Jesus’ life and ministry perfectly reveal the face and will of God (“If you have seen me, you have seen the Father!”); believing that you were created and chosen by God for this time in history to accomplish something that he has reserved just for you and no one else.

Jesus’ rising from the dead changed everything for his disciples including what they valued in life; their perspective of the world; their outlook on the future; their reason for living; the true meaning of loving; the merits of sacrifice; the nobility of service; the purpose of their suffering; and freedom from the fear of dying.

Like Jesus their reason for existing in the world was to respond to Philips request in the Gospel: “Show us the Father.” God’s children, his living stones built on the foundation stone of Christ, continue to reveal his face to the world. After gently whipping us into shape the Father shows us off like the proud Dad that he is so that people may see him when they see us and give him all the glory, the honor and the praise!