The Capstone Building for Success

The Capstone

Building for Success

This past year I discovered how important a capstone is.

The chimney on a house I bought was made of brick and mortar.

The mortar had cracked and the bricks started to shift.

If I had not given attention to the problem,

 the chimney would have fallen apart.

The fix was not easy.

The best fix would have been to take

the bricks down and start over.

The problem wasn’t the bricks and it was not

the mortar the problem was the capstone.

The capstone was made of mortar that covered all

the bricks and mortar that made up the chimney.

In this case, the capstone had cracked and

the seal for the three stacks had deteriorated.

The rain and snow over the

years had got past the capstone.

The freezing and thawing of the water between the joints had broken

the adhesive bond of the mortar and cracked some of the bricks.

This project taught me how important the capstone is.

When building the pyramids,

the capstone is a triangle shape stone.

Because of its shape it is unusable in

building a pyramid until you get to the top.

It seems to be rejected by the builders until the end where

there is only one stone that will complete the pyramid.

Without that odd shaped capstone, the

pyramids in Egypt would not be here today.

The protection of the capstone has kept them.

  

The writer of Psalms 118 realized the importance of the

capstone and how different it was from all the other stones.

Peter describes the Capstone as Jesus.

Rejected by men, but chosen by God.

The Psalmist saw how marvelous God’s Capstone and

looked forward to the day the Capstone would be put in place.

He recognized that all we build in life

will be “lost” without the Capstone.

Therefore he says…

“O Lord, save us; O Lord, grant us success.”

Our success in life can only be

achieved by “obedience to God’s Word”.

All we build must fit under the protection

of the Capstone of Jesus Christ.

Build a life that will last for eternity.

Design everything you do to

fit under the eternal Capstone.

  

Scripture Reading NIV

Psalm 118:22-25

22 The stone the builders rejected

has become the capstone;

23 the Lord has done this,

and it is marvelous in our eyes.

24 This is the day the Lord has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it.

25 O Lord, save us;

O Lord, grant us success.

1 Peter 2:4-8

4 As you come to him, the living Stone — rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:

"See, I lay a stone in Zion,

a chosen and precious cornerstone,

and the one who trusts in him

will never be put to shame."

7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

"The stone the builders rejected

has become the capstone,"

8 and,

"A stone that causes men to stumble

and a rock that makes them fall."

They stumble because they disobey the message — which is also what they were destined for.