A rockhound looks at the church
I love rocks. Since I was a small child, I have gone through many phases of collecting and working with stones and minerals.
I can’t imagine how many shiny stones my mother must have dug out of my pants pockets on laundry days. If I’m honest, it can still happen today.
Rock collectors range from the casual to the obsessed, from the small child bringing a few shiny stones home in their pocket to those who travel the world to collect the perfect piece.
A collector might collect pieces that catch their eye while out walking. Someone else might spend vast sums of money purchasing rare and unique specimens. One person might bring home common pieces, while another might collect only a particular type. Everyone’s tastes and circumstances are different.
I have found that rock collectors are very willing to talk about what they collect and often share their collections. I have had great conversations with perfect strangers on beaches, gravel bars, or even in the landscaped sections of parking lots about rocks. The rock bug seems to bite early in life and never goes away for most people.
A conundrum for rock collectors (or collectors of anything else, for that matter) is “what to do with them when you have brought them home?” How do you display them? How do you make room for more?
Of course, there will never be enough room. There will always be more or bigger specimens to collect. The variety of stone is virtually inexhaustible. Many are found in only one location worldwide. Others are common, but they come in an infinite array of colors, shapes, and patterns.
Unlike a rock collection, there is a collection that is guaranteed to be complete in time. That is the church. I don’t mean the outward manifestation of denominations and groups, or buildings, or even the gathering of believers. I am referring to everyone throughout time that God has ordained to be saved.
True believers are a gift to Christ from the Father.
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.” John 17:6-10
If we are a gift from the perfect Father to his precious Son, we will not be lost. Everyone, from everywhere and in any era included in the gift, will be saved.
God won’t be displaying us in a basket. We will be transformed into everything he made us to be and will be in His presence for eternity to come.
He elected His followers before the beginning of time to complete His work in them.
For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Romans 8:28-29
Believers are chosen by a perfect God for a holy, eternal purpose. My piles of rocks might be pretty enough, but they will never compare with the wonder of the assembled, glorified church in the presence of their God.
I can hardly wait to see it.
Hallelu Yah (Praise God)
Be blessed,
Kevin