So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.
Isaiah 28:16
Many years ago, my great grandmother laid a foundation stone for a chapel in my home town.
There's an ageing photo of her from the 1930's laying the stone - the stone says "Founded in Faith".
The faith can be traced back to the Welsh Revival of the early 1900's. It was a peculiar move of the Holy Spirit among the mining community of Wales. So strong was the presence of the Holy Spirit that rough miners would cry out, literally in tears, to Jesus for forgiveness as they dug at the coal face.
A miner turned evangelist, Stephen Jeffreys, spread the gospel all around the British Isles together with his brother George. Through his preaching both my paternal and maternal grandparents and my parents found faith in Jesus - amazing - some in the north and some in the south!
Today that chapel, founded in faith, is a house - the foundation stone is covered in plaster and white masonry paint so that no one can see it.
Is everything lost? The faith that believed God would move in the town and bring people into a personal relationship with Jesus - has it been encased in spiritual concrete and totally concealed?
Only the Lord knows.
What I do realise is that the faith still lives on, at least in my own heart and in the hearts of those who were touched by the faith displayed in that chapel.
God builds His house, not with bricks and mortar, but, with living stones. Jesus is the true Cornerstone and we are being built into Him:
I Peter 2:4-6
As you come to Him, the Living Stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “See, I lay in Zion a Stone, a Chosen and Precious Cornerstone; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”
The only Cornerstone that really matters is the Lord Jesus, let's build our lives on Him and Him alone.
Let's be bold and let people see our love and loyalty to Jesus - don't let your faith get covered in concrete and glossed over. Be proud of Jesus and His love.
Romans 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.
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