April 15, 2013 … Building a Blessed Life

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 105

Passage of the Day: Isaiah 28: 16 [NLT] …  
16 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem. It is firm, a tested and precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never run away again.
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Contextual Study of today’s passage: Isaiah, Chapter 28 [NLT] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage #1: Psalm 118: 22 : [Messiah is our cornerstone; … a verse later quoted by Jesus in reference to Himself, in Matthew 21: 42.] …[NLT] … 
22 The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone.

Reference Passage #2: Ephesians 2: 20 : [Paul’s teaching on the “cornerstone.” ] …[NLT] …  
20 We are His house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 

 My Journal for Today: Today, Os Hillman, in his workplace devotional, asks four questions which he feels must be answered if any Christian desires to live a God-blessed life. These four self-testing questions are as follows:
1. Is Christ the cornerstone (i.e., foundation) of our life-building process? 
2. In our life walk of faith, what life-building “faith experiences” has God used to prepare us to live for His glory? 
3. Is obedience the life-building attitude which drives our decisions and our actions? 
4. And finally, are we prepared in our discipleship in Christ to do what God is calling us to do to build in life for His glory? 

One could write a book – and some probably have – in answering all these questions; and we, as Christians, should definitely address them if we desire to be blessed by God’s Spirit in building a life which glorifies God. However, this morning I can’t even get by the first of these questions in my own discipleship analysis and for this blog entry. So, if I may, I’ll concentrate, through Scripture and personal reflection, on the first of Hillman’s points.

If we are to build a life which is blessed by God, Christ must be the cornerstone of that building process. So many times, at least in this humble Christian’s opinion, I think saved, born-again Christians never end up living God-blessed lives because they try to build their lives on the cornerstone of self-directed motives, decisions, and attitudes, rather than living, as Isaiah prophesied (above in Is. 28: 16) and Jesus later taught from Ps. 118: 22, that Christ, the Messiah, must be the cornerstone of our discipleship and life-building process.

 Unfortunately, I think that many, if not most, Christians, once saved, never truly build their discipleship on Christ as their cornerstone; and building on self-directed, rather than Savior-directed, motives, they never build their lives as Christ instructed His disciples to build in Luke 9: 23 (yes, there’s that verse that comes up so often in my journaling!). We don’t deny our selves and really follow our Lord; and therefore, our self-directed motives and life experiences never are built with the proper foundation; and the lives built on self will crumble and never reflect the blessing from God’s grace which could have been realized IF we, as CHRISTIANS, had built our lives on Christ as the cornerstone.

 So, it’s fine to answer all those questions above from Hillman’s devotional entry today; but, please focus first – and foremost – on the cornerstone question. Is Christ, our Lord, the cornerstone of our life-building and discipleship completion process? Because, if we are building our lives on self-directed attitudes and values, our life-building process will ultimately crumble. I will leave it to you to meditate on this. I, most certainly, am doing so.

My Prayer for Today … Lord, I pray that all of my life-building has You as my Cornerstone. … Amen