Land and a good mule used to be the requirements for living.  When Israel was about to move into the land promised by God, the Lord worked to assure that everyone would have enough territory to sustain them and their children for generations to come.  He did this by not only blessing them immediately with productive land but by giving them commandments to sustain them in their new homes.  It was God’s love and concern for Israel that caused him to give a very important command: don’t move the stones (Deu 19.14).

 The property markers laid by the men and women who initially entered into the promised land were to be forever respected and honored among the people.  Those markers were, quite literally, the lifeblood of the nation in assuring that each family would have enough land to produce the food they needed to survive.  To move the stones was not only to steal land, it was quite likely going starve a great number of people or force them into slavery.

We, as God’s chosen and beloved, have been given an inheritance that is not of this world.  It is altogether more lovely and wonderful than that which was given to Israel, but it is just as vital that we keep the boundaries marked or we will starve to death spiritually.

We have not been given a single earthen stone which helps to designate this territory, but we have been given an entire temple of living stones that stand before us as examples of faith.   Peter, James, John, Paul, Epaphroditus, Titus, Philemon, Dorcas, Mary, Phoebe, Damaris and others.  There are also many people we know today who are living stones, marking a life of faith, who follow the narrow path of glorifying God in all that they do.

Mr. and Mrs. Moore are such people, and we are going to miss them as they move to San Antonio.  They have been wonderful examples to all of us in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity.  We should remember their example and follow the pathway they have shown us, the path that they have marked for us with the stones that are their lives, the path of faithfulness to God.  We must remember them, and don’t move the stones.