Living Stones

There is a famous story about a Spartan king who was boasting to a visitor about the walls of Sparta. The visitor looked around, however, and could not see any walls. "You see, in Sparta, every man is a brick," the Spartan king told his guest, pointing to his army. "These are the walls of Sparta."

When it comes to the church, every believer is a brick. And we are described in the Bible as living stones: "And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple . . ." (1 Peter 2:5).

We should not be spectators in the church; we should be participants. It is easy to play armchair quarterback. But it is another thing altogether to be down on the field with the team. And that is where God wants each of us to be.

President Theodore Roosevelt said, "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming. . . ."

It is easy to stand back and criticize, but the credit goes to the man or woman who goes out and does the work of God’s kingdom. Maybe they make a mistake here. Maybe they don’t get it right there. But I would rather try and make a mistake than never try at all.

As each part of the body of Christ does its special work, it helps the entire body. The key is every one of us doing our part.