Living stones

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
(1 Peter 2:4-5 ESV)

What do you think it means to be "living stones"?  I have been meditating on this and have read in several places recently where this imagery is mentioned.  The more I think about it, the more it intrigues me.

A few thoughts for you to ponder with me comparing bricks with stones: 

• stones are made by God as opposed to bricks which are mixed and baked my man for usefulness.
• Men reject the stones and instead make bricks to build with but in the sight of God these stones are chosen and precious building materials. 
• Bricks are easily managed, broken and manipulated as building materials as long as the builders have a suitable mortar mixture.

To multiply the significance of this comparison there is the way that stones are made suitable for building in the temple.  All of the stones sharp and protuding edges must be broken off and grinded down until it fits well against the stone next to it.  The stones are held together by friction and not man-made mortar.   They are unified and immovable once they have been chiseled and shaped and placed among other prepared stones.  Historians tell us theat the second temple at the time of Jesus' ministry had stones in it with no mortar to hold them together but were so close that not even a piece of paper could come between them.

WE are living stones built up as a spiritual house, chosen and precious.  We are being chiseled and broken to look more like Christ so that we are built into a suitable dwelling place that the fullness of the Godhead would be pleased to dwell.  Death to self and life in Christ.  Jesus demonstrates and teaches us that unless one dies to self we cannot grow and bear fruit.  As living stones we are shaped to fit into the place that God has prepared for us in His house.  Built together with one another the friction that results from our being so close grinds off the rough edges so that we fit together even better.  In the way of grinding off the pieces that are not of Christ we are more unified, a corporate body made up of parts with Christ as head.  A house that our creator dwells in.  Do you get that?  He doesn't just visit once a week on Sunday morning, He dwells there.  He lives there.  He abides there and we are made suitable building materials by suffering and death to self to give place to Christ.  Not by man-made structures and schemes designed to make better mortar and bricks.