1 Peter 2:4-5 (NIV) “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—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.”
The thoughts on Educator as Midwife shared with you in the first section of this devotional are primarily for the educator. However, one of the challenges for the educator was to see themselves and their students as “living stones.”
It is this idea of “living stones” that could take root in your classroom:
- With older students, do a comparison study of Solomon’s temple and the New Testament church as God’s holy temple. Both the tabernacle and the temple were constructed to be the dwelling place of God. We are now that dwelling place. Look at pictures of the temple in particular, focusing on the stones. Read 1 Peter 2:4-5 with your students. Draw them to the conclusion that they are “living stones” and help them to begin to ask questions as to what the remainder of the verses mean. What does it mean that we are “being built” into a spiritual house?
- For both younger and older classes, bring in stones that can be used to construct a small “building.” Talk about the importance of each stone being used – a building is not constructed with one stone. The temple was not, and neither is the New Testament church. The stones are “in community” with each other, collaborating together to maintain the shape of the structure. This lesson could serve as an object lesson for collaboration and community building.
What makes the stones “living” stones? How are they alive? Stones are inanimate objects with no life in them. Talk about Jesus as the Chief Cornerstone and how we have life because of Him. Our eternal life, the life of “living stones” comes through Jesus. A great visual for this might be a cross made out of stones.
Photo by Mathieu Turle on Unsplash
