Amaze yourself with these Nathan Sawaya’s Lego sculptures on CNN and his blog.

Scripture

For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,

‘The stone that you builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.’ Acts 4:11

Observation

Back in April of ’79 I was a senior in high school saving for college. My summer job was working construction. The boss had just finished laying rows of cinder blocks 27 feet tall. My job was to pull down the scaffolding. I ate my McDonalds lunch from that sky perch and did two historic things. First I made a time capsule of junk food as I put the McDonalds packaging into the holes in the wall. And then I did what no one can resist: I wrote my name and the date in the wet concrete in the top course of blocks.

No one can resist making their mark in stone. There is graffiti etched in sandstone along the Oregon Trail from the 1850′s. There are tags in Roman catacombs and even the Egyptian tombs. I once asked a graffiti artist what it was that drove him to spray paint his tag on blank walls around town. He said, “It’s the desire to be noticed.”

Every human longs for significance and wants to make their mark. Deep down, somehow, in some way, for some moment of time no matter how brief we want to be important. Otherwise Gold Class, First Class, Platinum would not exist. We want to end up on top of the heap of humanity and be treated special.

We are each special to God, but he has designed it such that none of us can claim to be superior. That’s why this little phrase is repeated over and over in the Bible:

The stone that you builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.

The “cornerstone” is not a shinny granite block at the bottom of the wall, it is a huge monolith at the top of all the courses of stone. The cornerstone in the temple was the largest building stone on earth. It was a rectangular block of rock nearly the size of a house. The walls of the Temple were built with man-sized blocks of granite. The rows and rows of huge stones were held in place by the top capstone. It was pure genius as it withstood earthquakes for centuries.

Application

Here’s the point for us: we are definitely not the capstone, that’s Jesus. Nor are we dirt because the stones were built without mortar. Instead each of us is a living stone with a part to play in the wall, high or low, visible or invisible wherever the Stone Mason wants it to rest. Once each of us is in position, Jesus takes his place on the highest level and holds us in place.

It is a secure feeling being locked into Christ submission. Like a row of Lego blocks, he puts me where I belong and holds me secure. And submitting to his Lordship is a joy because he did not take this exalted position for himself. The stone was rejected and God the Father himself hoisted him into the highest place. Jesus’ authority over me is submission and that is a joy.

All comes together when Jesus is in the right place over our lives. Jesus will only be in the right place when I confess that Jesus is the cornerstone, I am not.

Prayer

Father today I want to stumble on Jesus so I find just the place I am to be. Amen.