“4 As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him – 5 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.” NIV

In a magazine article, a young woman wrote, ‘God loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life. So why do I so often act like He made a big mistake when He made me?’

When David Watson was one of the most ‘famous’ clergymen in the country, and people flocked to the church he led in York, ‘St. Michael le belfry’, to hear him, he gave his congregation a wise piece of counsel: ‘‘When people come in here and ask who the minister is, say, ‘we all are!’ ‘’

In his commentary on Paul’s letter to the ‘Ephesians’, John Stott writes about visiting St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Darien, Connecticut. He says that on the front of the Sunday bulletin he saw the name of the Rector, and the associate Rector, and then the assistant Rector. Next came a line saying: ‘Ministers: The entire congregation.’ This is a thoroughly Biblical vision of the church. We believe in ‘the priesthood of all believers’ – namely, that every Christian has a ministry. We don’t all have the same ministry, but we do each have a ministry. Everyone, by God’s grace, gets to make a contribution.

We saw yesterday that the church is ‘’a spiritual house’’. It is not a material construction, but a ‘building’ made of people who have ‘’come’’ to Jesus.

( ‘’Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life…’’ it says in ‘The Message.’)

But Peter goes on to write that these people who compose Christ’s church offer ‘’spiritual sacrifices’’. Each one is a priest and has a ministry: something to present, to give.

Sadly, our best efforts are tainted by sin. It is so good to know, then, that our offerings are ‘’acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.’’

 THOUGHT: ‘Be yourself; everyone else is taken!’

 PRAYER: Thank you Lord that in your Kingdom there are no ‘good-for-nothings’. Everyone counts. Thank you that there’s a work for Jesus none but I can do.