"The White Stone"

 

    "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it" (Revelation 2:17).

 

    Few Scriptures more reveal the personal nature of God's relationship with His trusting children in the Christ than the Apostle John's revelation of the white stone given to all who overcome by faith in the Lord Jesus.  Only God and the individual who receives the stone will know the name written thereon.

 

    Born again Christians believe in the same God, and affirm many truths that comprise our common faith in the Savior.  Nevertheless, our Heavenly Father's relationship with each of us involves unique aspects of love, devotion, communication and purpose.  Certainly we exemplify Christ to one another, providing traits for mutual admiration and emulation.  "Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do" (Philippians 4:9).  Still, God's working in our lives remains unique, and we all do well to seek His special working in us and by us.

 

    Nearly all of us will live and minister as small fish in small ponds.  Our names won't be known, our labors will go largely unnoticed, and even those to whom we quietly minister Christ may not even recognize we are about His purposes in their lives and ours.  Just He and ourselves will know, and sometimes even we won't realize that our doings are His doings.  John was John, not Peter.  Peter was Peter, not Paul.  Countless others have quietly done the will of God through the ages, living and ministering in ways of the white stone, that is, they have discovered their Lord to be uniquely personal, even as we are also members of one body, one faith, and one Christ.

 

    What is His way in your life and mine?  I won't know the answer about you, nor will you know it about me.  Our Lord so personally lives in us that some things are just between us, as it were.  We will have to know Him well to discover His way of the white stone in us.  Few things are as important in our lives, and few things more fulfilling.

 

"Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called."

(I Corinthians 7:20)