OLD BARNS
How is that barn still standing? On my way to work, I go a back way to avoid a busy highway. One barn I see, is close to the road. One corner, that I can see, is still standing, but the rest of the barn has started falling apart all around it. I can tell that it was red but the paint has long ago started chipping away and fading from the sun. Parts of the roof are trying to cave in. Some boards are splintering away and if you were in the middle of the barn, you would feel quite a breeze! I am sure little creatures, have found their way into it and made it their home. I can tell there are things inside the barn. I wonder what treasures a person could find if they dared the hazards of going inside? But what interests me the most, is that only one corner, on this side of the barn is still holding the structure up. The barn has three other corners but I cannot see them from the road. It has no walls helping to hold it up. It is just standing there so strong and tall. Keeping the secrets and treasures it holds intact. It is built on a cornerstone, which anchors the entire structure together. That is what is making it so strong and still standing after years of wind, rain, snow, heat and cold. Through the years, this barn has weathered who knows what, but yet it is still standing, even though it is beat up-broken-falling down, thanks to the cornerstone that was poured so many years ago! The cornerstone is keeping the building standing.
There is a show on tv called “Barn Builders.” I love the fact that in the show, they tear down barns piece by piece, carefully documenting how it was built so many years ago. Then, they “put it all back together” for another owner who might be miles away. I have always liked to look at barns for some reason. I can imagine that the old barns were part of a large plot of land where farmers and their families toiled all of there lives. What stories I would love to hear about who lived there and erected that barn so many years ago. But it is evident that whoever built it originally, knew the importance of a strong cornerstone.
I started thinking that our lives are like that barn. We are broken-falling apart- been “chipped” at-feel like we will fall at any minute because of the pressures of this world on us. The year of 2020, in some ways was like that. So many family members passed away because of the coronavirus-business owners had to close their doors, some forever-families who had not ever experienced anything like this, were literally hungry, standing in lines for hours just trying to get food for their families for that day! The fear encompassed us of even getting out of our homes and breathing the same air that was so full of the virus. For months, we were not able to go to church services. Much of this made so many fearful like they had never before felt.
But guess what, the Bible tells us that WE have a chief cornerstone. That stone is Jesus. In Isaiah 28:16, Isaiah foretells about Jesus. “Therefore, thus says the Lord God. Behold I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation. A tried stone, a precious cornerstone a sure foundation.” There are many scriptures that tell us that Jesus is our chief cornerstone. But I will just have you look at, 1 Peter 2-10.
“Coming to Him as a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained in the Scripture. ‘Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.’ Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious, but to those who are disobedient, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’ They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of the darkness into His marvelous light; who were once not a people but now are the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”
In ancient buildings, the cornerstone was first situated on the foundation and then all of the other stones were aligned to it. The cornerstone is still today, an important part of keeping a structure secure. The Cornerstone of Jesus, is important to us to keep us secure. That Cornerstone of Jesus also keeps us standing. When the “wind, rain and snow” of this world threatens to make us fall, that Cornerstone of Jesus will keep us upright. We may be torn up, feel that all is hopeless, painful physically and mentally, fearful, we may be leaning a bit, but the Cornerstone, of Jesus, keeps us standing and is always there with us if we just reach out to Him.
Unlike the Old Testament priesthood, in which only those who were born into a certain tribe could be priests, all who are reborn into God’s family, that is, all believers and who obey His word, are priest who have the privilege and responsibility of offering spiritual sacrifices to God. There are several phrases in the scripture above that show me that we are loved by God. “A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.”
I always wonder if that barn is still standing when I head to work. But so far that strong cornerstone is keeping it from falling. That old barn reminds me that Jesus, as the chief cornerstone, is holding me up. When my husband, grandparents, mother, my pet, my precious friends and mentors, all left this earth, and the days are hard, He was and is strong and keeping me going. I might feel let down by this world, but my God, through His Son Jesus, has and will keep me putting one step in front of the other.
Old barns. I love them! They remind me that I need to hold onto God’s promises when times get tough. Even when we are leaning because of this world, He has a hold of us. He is helping you stand up and keep going. Put Jesus, as the Chief Cornerstone, into your life. You will be glad you did!
Till next time. Keela