God fits us into his temple as living stones. It is in discovering this reality—the building of God, in which we live, and move, and have our being—that we come alive. It is not by getting our own way, but rather by fitting into something sacred, ancient and massive. Here is how C. S. Lewis memorably puts it:
“We have in our day started by getting the whole picture upside down. Starting with the doctrine that every individual is ‘of infinite value,’ we then picture God as a kind of employment committee whose business it is to find suitable careers for souls, square holes for square pegs. In fact, however, the value of the individual does not lie in him. He is capable of receiving value. He receives it by union with Christ. There is no question of finding for the individual a place in the living temple which will do justice to his inherent value and give scope to his natural idiosyncrasy. The place was there first. The individual was created for it. He will not be himself until he is there.”
C. S. Lewis, “Membership,” in The Weight of Glory (Grand Rapids, 1974), pages 41-42.
