Any builder worth his or her salt knows the value and importance of a cornerstone. Properly laying and securing this primary unit determines how the rest of the project unfolds and its success. Cornerstones are necessary elements not only of buildings but of lives as well. Many human beings conduct the business of their lives paying little attention to a grounding reference or starting point. Hence, what unfolds is a tapestry of relativism, with few anchors or guideposts and many impulsive choices. Some consider love to be their cornerstone. While this may sound attractive and useful, the pursuit of love without a simultaneous pursuit of its source can be shallow and self-focused. Just because a person chooses to do no harm and love others does not mean that they are living in truth and properly anchored to the real cornerstone.
Jesus is the true and authentic cornerstone and shepherd. It is only in following the Risen One as the way, the truth, and the life that we can move from being well grounded ethical people to properly focused moral ones. Proper conduct, a true sense of justice, wisdom, virtue, moral principles, faith, hope, and love will be difficult to find unless we listen to the right Voice. It is when we learn to listen to the voice of God that we begin our journey on the road to salvation. It is only the Good Shepherd, the authentic and solid cornerstone, who can guide us through life’s questions and challenges and bring us to the safe and proper pasture.
A person’s life only has meaning when the cornerstone is properly selected and set. Understanding themselves only as random acts of creation, existing without intent or purpose, will color their choices and influence their decisions. The foundation of their lives will be simply a matter of preference and choice, leaving benchmarks of growth and higher ideals optional to pursue. Whereas people who believe that they are fashioned and loved into existence by a God who purposely made them, have this incredible unconditional relationship at their source which has tremendous significance. Their allegiance is not to themselves but to their Creator. Life, then, is an adventure in search of this Creator God and a journey of self-discovery that seeks to unite their will to His. There is a cost. We have to give up our life in order to gain our life. As ironic as that sounds, it is true. It is only when we finally figure this out that the true cornerstone of our lives will be properly laid and we can, with God’s help, get about the business of properly constructing a temple that endures.
©LPi