Everything Else is Gravy
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1 Peter 2:4-10
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.
The heading of these verses in my bible is: The Living Stone and a Chosen People. Jesus Christ provides us a rock-solid foundation for our faith. He did the “impossible” so that we can do the impossible. We obtain eternal life in heaven through God’s grace, because of the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection! We are “chosen” because we believe. Because we believe, because we have been given this amazing gift, we proclaim the good news to the world!
How do we go about building a “spiritual house?” How do we determine which spiritual sacrifices are acceptable to God? How do we demonstrate the unfathomable mercy extended to us by our heavenly father? We do so by living a life worthy of the gift. We try to be the best people we know how to be and live in a way that will bring glory to God. I’m participating in a group study of “The Purpose Driven Life” at my church. We have found ourselves repeatedly commenting, “Oh, this is hard.” It’s hard to give glory to God through our every word and deed. It’s hard to think only of Him when we want to berate a co-worker. It’s hard to be nice to the person who cut you off in traffic – and it’s really hard to be polite to the person who cuts in line at Wal-Mart (especially on a Saturday afternoon!)
Once we wandered aimlessly through the world. Once we had no homeland, no future, no hope for a better way of life. Now, because of Christ, we can establish ourselves firmly upon the foundation of “that living stone.” We have a purpose now. Our lives have significance. WE have significance. God has declared us “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.” God’s own people! Wow! I can’t think of a higher honor than to be established in that way. God’s own people.
What does that mean in and for our lives? Verse nine also talks about our being called out of darkness into his marvelous light. If we live in the light, we live with honor and are not ashamed of what we do and say, and how we act toward others. If we do something that is shameful, we apologize – not only to God, but to the one we’ve wronged. We hold ourselves to a higher standard that the world does—morally, ethically, spiritually, and literally. We strive to become like Christ. We define our lives by the purposes God established for us: to worship him. To worship him with our lives.
We love—like he does—with “reckless abandon.” We seek to do good—like Christ did—without regard for reputation or reward. We strive for a life worthy of the promise. We labor for God’s chosen people—and to enlarge His family her on earth. We labor, actually for God. Not that he needs us, but he wants us. Not that he requires our efforts, but he desires to use our efforts to reach each other, and to reach out to each other. That is how we become children of the light. That is how we advance the second coming at the end of time.
God’s grace is all we need to live. Everything else is “gravy.”
I hope today you accept the crown of royal priesthood. And that you shine the light of Christ to all those still walking in darkness.
Mary
