And please, dont go down the language error route and say "little pebble".
It is written,
"no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (in 1 Corinthians 3:11)
And our Apostle Peter says >
"Coming to Him as a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood" (in 1 Peter 2:4-6).
So, Peter himself says we are
"living stones" and
"a holy priesthood". He says Jesus is
"a living stone", and we
"also". So, there is conforming to the image of Jesus shown here.
God wants us to be as much like Jesus as is possible with God. Plus, Jesus Himself in His own prayer claims how we are loved by our Father >
"as You have loved Me", Jesus Himself guarantees in the Lord's prayer in John 17. So, even if our positions in this priesthood are different, we are all loved as our Father loves His own Son Jesus ! ! !
So, ones of the true priesthood of Jesus are ministering our attention and us to this . . . not only to arguing about and proving and disproving beliefs which do not help us to this such sharing with our Groom Jesus.
Plus, our Apostle Peter says, to leaders . . .
"nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." (1 Peter 5:3)
I understand an example is someone who is the way we all can be, and God wants this. And Peter says we are Jesus Christ's
"holy priesthood".
And who is our example of priesthood? Yes, Jesus is. And how, among other ways, has Jesus functioned as our High Priest?
"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15)
Jesus our High Priest and example of priesthood has gone through things we go through in this life, so that now He as our Groom can feel for us, and bless us with how grace made Jesus able to go through it all - - - to do so well in loving while going through all Jesus did and suffered. He is our example > how now we use things we go through, in order to help us feel for others and then minister to them the grace which makes us succeed in submitting to God and loving any and all people while we go through things. Jesus used His things for loving and honoring God and loving any and all people; so this is how we use things we go through . . . in our Father's all-loving creativity for doing good to each and every person.
This is basic Catholic, what the Bible says, in my opinion. But there are ones keeping attention elsewhere, claiming they are Catholic or not > Galatians 4:17.
But our Apostle Paul says what qualifies a man to
"take care of the church of God" > 1 Timothy 3:1-10. A man needs to be proven in his own home first, to see if he is able to do well in marriage and with his wife to bring up their children well. He needs to demonstrate in real life, not only with say-so, that he knows how to take care of people in our Heavenly Father's family caring and sharing way. And, of course, in learning how to love and not to abuse his family with arguing and complaining (Philippians 2:13-16), he becomes
"blameless" (1 Timothy 3:1-10) the way God's love changes us to
"become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation" > see, again, Philippians 2:13-16.
But we see how ones claiming to be the Catholic Church do not give attention to this basic of how a man becomes qualified to care for God's people. He and his wife go through the things of marriage and bringing up children, so now they can feel for others and help other couples and single people preparing for marriage. And as a
"blameless" person he also can help celibates, including helping them learn how to love in a close relationship. So, by going through things, in order to help others through things, he is following the priesthood example of Christ who went through things of this life so now He can be our High Priest > as Hebrews 4:15 does say.
And we all do this, using our experience to help us feel for others and to minister the grace which we have gained through it all.
"As each one has received the gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." (1 Peter 4:10)
"Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, except what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers." (Ephesians 4:29)
Plus, our Apostle Paul directs us to
"first of all" make
"intercessions" "for all men" > please see 1 Timothy 2:1-4. And intercession is a priesthood function of Jesus
"who also makes intercession for us." (in Romans 8:34) ! ! !
Jesus in us > Galatians 2:20 > lives His priesthood through us. So, all of us in Jesus are in His functioning priesthood. But we need mature family men to be our
"examples" whom we can present to the public, while we too feed on their example
But there are individuals who call our attention elsewhere . . . mainly to exalting and proving their own groups. Not only ones of some one group do this. Attention, beware!!
But our real
"examples to the flock" (1 Peter 5:3) can be in groups and the same churches, even, with ones not exactly. So, Jesus makes us able to tell the difference > John 10:1-30 > 1 Corinthians 11:18-19. So, we have no excuse for getting fooled into going along with wrong people. We need to make sure our attention is first with ones who help us walk in submission to God in His own peace > James 4:7, Colossians 3:15, while we love the way Jesus in us has us discovering how to love any and all people > Ephesians 4:2, Ephesians 4:31-5:2, with hope for any person, at all, like how Jesus on the cross had hope for any wrong person, at all > love
"hopes all things" (in 1 Corinthians 13:7).
What I mean by grace, by the way, is God's redeeming action creating excellence in our character > so we are pleasing and submissive to God like Jesus in us shares with us, while He also shares with us, in us, how He loves any and all people, sharing as family with one another, while caring for any and all others. This is basic, ministered by leaders who are qualified, to us and through us who follow their example.
