^4–8Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life. The workmen took one look and threw it out; God set it in the place of honor. Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God. The Scriptures provide precedent:

Look! I’m setting a stone in Zion,

a cornerstone in the place of honor.

Whoever trusts in this stone as a foundation

will never have cause to regret it.

To you who trust him, he’s a Stone to be proud of, but to those who refuse to trust him,

The stone the workmen threw out

is now the chief foundation stone.

For the untrusting it’s

… a stone to trip over,

a boulder blocking the way.

They trip and fall because they refuse to obey, just as predicted.

^9–10But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.

Read in Logos

1 Peter 2:7: So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone …”