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“And he said to the people of Israel, ‘When your children ask their fathers in times to come, “What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.“‘” -Joshua 4.21-22
What landmarks are we leaving for our children? Is it just a pile of rocks? For several generations years the legacy of the church has been the church– the church building that is. The European landscape is littered with ornate places of worship, and the eastern United States is not devoid of them either. Yet so many stand empty, as monuments and historical sites, no longer functioning as the meeting house of God’s people. At some point it lost its’ meaning. At some point it became just a pile of rocks.
This is not what Joshua is doing. This is not the will of the Lord who is commanding it. These stones are to serve as a reminder of God’s awesome power and his unrelenting promise. They are to be a place where people who may have lost their way can come back and experience God’s power once again.
Unfortunately, once in the hands of sinful humanity these altars become idols and we fully lose the original intent. We must be sure to leave landmarks, but careful not to leave out the proper spirit which gives these landmarks their meaning.