Read with Me
1 Peter 2:9b (HCSB)
But you are…a holy nation, a people for His possession,
so that you may proclaim the praises
of the One who called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light.
Listen with Me
Peter continues to help his readers to own the identity that we have been given by God. And yes, it is a singular identity. Even though there are four facets he points to that are part of this identity, they are all integrated and not separate. No one can say, “I am a chosen person, but I’m not a holy priest”. It is precisely because all God’s people are chosen that we are all holy priests.
But we, as God’s people, are not just a nation, we are a holy nation. That was God’s vision for Israel, but they were never able to live it out. Instead, they fell repeatedly into sin, rebellion, and idolatry. But that dynamic has changed with the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, and with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit into the hearts of all who turn to Him. We are not merely reformed but transformed. No longer do we try to conform to the written law, but instead, we live our lives on the basis of the law written on the tablet of our hearts (Ezekiel 36:25-27, Jeremiah 31:33-34). Thus, God’s New Covenant people are able to live ethically holy lives, lives that glorify Him and that point to His salvation, so that others can see and turn to Jesus (Matthew 5:14–16).
The people of God’s kingdom are also holy in the sense that we belong fully to God and are set apart for His use. It is important to understand that the “set apartness” is not static, but dynamic. It is not a status but is designed to move God’s people forward into our world with His praises on our lips and the light of the Holy Spirit shining through our lives.
It is on the basis of God’s ownership of the people of His kingdom that He has commissioned us to go to the dark places, taking God’s light where it is most needed. It is on that basis that He has sent us into the broken places in the world with the wholeness, the shalom, that comes from being “in Jesus”, so that they we can heal bodies, souls, minds, and relationships. It is on that basis that God has sent us, not just to do “good works, but to do the best work of showing the people who are lost the way into God’s kingdom through faith in Jesus, so that they can also live forever with Him, starting here and now.
Pray with Me
Father, I know it is popular these days to believe that as Christians we are really no different than anyone else, no better, nothing special. We are simply “saved”. But your word tells us something completely different. Because we are saved, who we are in Jesus is completely different from who we once were, and from who the people of the world are. We don’t merely have a different destiny, we have a different here and now, with a divine identity, a divine purpose, and divine power to live that out day by day. Thank you, Lord, for this reality that I get to live out in my own life. Amen.