As Christians, we must live in perfect alignment with Jesus Christ, anything else is below God’s standard and is unacceptable. I know many of us have heard it said that God does not mean that we must be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect, but He has prepared us to live in perfect alignment with Himself, His Word, and His standard. And with this, the Scripture agrees saying, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily. Also I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet” (Isaiah 28:16–17).
In the Bible, the cornerstone was a visible support on which the rest of the building relied for strength and stability. Jesus Christ, our cornerstone, must be our visible support in all things. And without a hint of hypocrisy or religiosity, everyone in our sphere should see Christ in everything we say and do. As a building rests on its cornerstone, we also must rest and rely on Jesus for our strength and stability, which is accomplished by placing our trust in Him alone!
Also, we must be diligent to remain at rest in Christ, realizing that He alone is our Sabbath rest and sure foundation. This is done by believing in and adhering to His Word, not adding anything to it; for to add to His word is to subtract from it, which causes a person to oppose God’s rest-His Son! Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). When one is at rest in the Lord, he has come to a state of agreement and cooperation with God, thus, having a common cause and the same outlook as does the Lord.
The prophets Amos, Isaiah, and Micah bring much understanding, revelation, and clarity to the subject of what the Lord requires of us. Micah says, “He has shown you, O man, what is good.” Let us pause and rehearse his introduction before going further. “He has shown you, O man, what is good.” Now, let us after the pause, look deeply into the prophet’s words. “And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). When we see what God requires, it beckons us to desire an experiential knowledge of Him and His truth. We then recognize that coming to the truth does not require that we fret or work harder or become filled with religiosity, but that we rest in the Lord and by learning to rest in Him, we will become the embodiment and personification of justice, love, mercy, and humility to all who encounter us on every level of life, because all we know and all we are will be a manifestation of a life that is at rest upon Jesus Christ, God’s Son, and appointed Chief Cornerstone!
In regard to Christ, Amos tells us, “Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said: “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore” (Amos 7:7–8). We know from Amos that the plumb line is a line that tells us whether a wall is straight/plumb. If the wall is found to lean either left or right, it is not plumb, thus, it does not meet the standard. Therefore, it must be torn down and removed! We also know that if a wall is leaning either way, it has a faulty foundation! Therefore, if our lives are other than what God requires, we will not be allowed to stand. Paul, the apostle, tells us that we are not to allow the world to mold us in any form or fashion. He says, “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).The Message Bible translation says, “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out” (Romans 12:2). Isaiah, the prophet, on the same subject says, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily. Also I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet” (Isaiah 28:16–17). Each of these Biblical writers has brought to us pertinent godly knowledge, but Isaiah tells us the make up of the measuring line and the plummet. He says that justice is the measuring line, and righteousness is the plummet or plumb bob. God requires us to be transformed by the One on whom we rest, not on whom we struggle to become! The One on whom we rest and the measuring line and the plummet are of the same.
The apostle Peter sums up this message in his epistle by saying, “Coming to Him as to 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” of great value(1 Peter 2:4–7).