1 Peter 2:1-10

So then, stop doing anything to hurt others. Don’t lie anymore, and stop trying to fool people. Don’t be jealous or say bad things about others. Like newborn babies hungry for milk, you should want the pure teaching that feeds your spirit. With it you can grow up and be saved. You have already tasted the goodness of the Lord. The Lord Jesus is the living stone. The people of the world decided that they did not want this stone. But he is the one God chose as one of great value. So come to him. You also are like living stones, and God is using you to build a spiritual house. You are to serve God in this house as holy priests, offering him spiritual sacrifices that he will accept because of Jesus Christ. The Scriptures say, “Look, I have chosen a cornerstone of great value, and I put that stone in Zion. Anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed.” So, that stone brings honor for you who believe. But for those who don’t believe he is “the stone that the builders refused to accept, which became the most important stone.” For them he is also “a stone that makes people stumble, a rock that makes people fall.” People stumble because they don’t obey what God says. This is what God planned to happen to those people. But you are his chosen people, the King’s priests. You are a holy nation, people who belong to God. He chose you to tell about the wonderful things he has done. He brought you out of the darkness of sin into his wonderful light. In the past you were not a special people, but now you are God’s people. Once you had not received mercy, but now God has given you his mercy.