God’s Own People
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1 Peter 2:1-12
1. So put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander. 2. Like newborn babes, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation; 3. for you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. 4. Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious; 5. and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6. For it stands in scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to shame." 7. To you therefore who believe, he is precious, but for those who do not believe, "The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner," 8. and "A stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall"; for they stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10. Once you were no people but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy. 11. Beloved, I beseech you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh that wage war against your soul. 12. Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles, so that in case they speak against you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10. Once you were no people but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.” God’s own people! What an honor and a privilege! God calls us out of the darkness of our sin and our shame into the marvelous light of His love and His truth! To those who don’t know the Good News we may seem “holier than thou” or even a little bit silly or naïve. But it doesn’t matter that they think that about us. What matters is that they notice we are different. Then we pray that God will give us the words to back up our actions. That He will present us opportunities to clarify with words what we demonstrate with our actions. That we will have an opportunity to share the Good News of our salvation with the unsaved, with the worldly, with those living in darkness.
The world becomes a stumbling block if we aren’t careful. There are so many attractions and splendors and so many appeals for us to satisfy our every whim! Satan tells us its okay to have more and more and more. You deserve it! You work hard! You deserve everything your heart desires in this world. But in fact, we deserve nothing. We are freely given a priceless gift, so precious that Satan doesn’t want us to look upon it! Because once we see the wonderful prize of eternal life in heaven, everything else pales in comparison!
So we must look heavenward. We must seek the riches of God’s treasurehouse. We must live in such a way that others notice we are different. And then we must tell them why! God not only wants our souls, but He wants everyone’s – and our responsibility is to spread the word of life to everyone – so that every soul on earth can be won for Jesus Christ.
I hope you spend your day basking in the marvelous light of God’s love, spreading the Good News that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.
Mary
