Cornerstone
7 min read
10 Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture: “ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
Mark 12:10-11
The ways of God confound the ways of humanity, the ways of the world. God does that not to frustrate humanity or to mock humanity. God confounds the ways of humanity to remind us that God is God and we are not.
God has given us dominion in this world. He has given us intelligence and ingenuity. He has given us His spirit of creating and building. And so we should engage those aspects of God’s image in us to build up civilizations that glorify God (Genesis 1:28).
To build up God-glorifying civilizations, the cornerstone of those civilizations must be Christ. The cornerstone is the stone that is literally used in the corner of a building. The cornerstone provides the basis by which every other stone for the building is laid. If the dimensions and the angles of the cornerstone are not perfect, the building will be structurally flawed.
If the cornerstone of any civilization is not Christ, that civilization is flawed—which explains the chaos we find in our civilizations today.
The cornerstone of civilizations today have the dimensions of commerce, science, and education. Humanity can accomplish many great things with commerce, science, and education. But if the cornerstone of a civilization is not Christ, that civilization will crumble, because it does not have a stable foundation.
That is pretty much a summary of human history right there.
The reason that the builders of human civilizations reject Christ as the Cornerstone is because that would cause every other stone that they have invested in to be discarded and replaced.
But the ways of God confound the ways of humanity. Humanity rejected the Chief Cornerstone, and in doing so, the kingdom of God has come.
The kingdom of God is a spiritual civilization within human civilizations. By its very definition, the Cornerstone of the kingdom of God is Christ. And that civilization in Jesus Christ will never, ever crumble.
Father, Your ways are high above our ways. We can never confound Your plan to fill the earth with Your glory. Even if people try to confound Your plan, You have another plan. Show us Your ways and lead us in paths of righteousness for Your glory. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
