Friday-What We Are

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

1 Peter 2:9,10

There’s lots and lots about becoming something more. Someone better. Tips and techniques to transform us into the new and improved version of ourselves. If there’s any doubt about this, just look at the $41.2 Billion self-hope marketplace that’s expected to grow to $81.6 Billion by 2032[1].

And then there’s all those videos that show us how simple it is to shave 5 strokes off our golf game. To throw faster and with more accuracy. To kick further and straighter. To glide through the water with ease.

But instructions and lessons are never enough. Oh no. We have to buy all sorts of stuff to help us improve. To arrive at our maximum potential. There’s all sorts of vitamins and supplements. Manuals and tip sheets. And there’s all those things to buy that will make us faster, stronger, and better.

It’s the same way with our spiritual lives. There are just so many master classes and video series that almost guarantee that we’ll become more in tune with God. We’ll be able to move ourselves closer and closer to God.

But Peter goes in just the opposite direction. Instead of us needing to work hard to earn our relationship with God, he says that there are certain things that are already done. They’re already finished. Because of Jesus’ payment for all our sins, God has made a way for us to come to him through faith. When we receive his gift, six things happen to us.

• Chosen People. It’s not about who we are or what we’ve done, it’s because he chose us. We didn’t earn his choice, he did it out of who he is. He has this great big love for us that motivated him to do whatever it took to bring us back to himself. And that cost was for him to come to Earth and die for us in Christ[2].

• Royal priesthood. God then makes us into not just priests, but royal priests. Jesus makes his followers into good kings that can offer pure and holy sacrifices to him through the way we live. And these acts of worship are done because he first loved us[3].

• Holy nation. Because of who God is and all he’s done for us, we run to him. We desperately want to please the one who loves us so. As we’re drawn to him, we’ll naturally drift away from everyone and everything else. This is what separates us from those who don’t follow Jesus[4]

• Special possession. While we’re not special, God makes us special. He treats each one as his unique son or daughter. He treats us like someone who’s not only uniquely made and loved by him, but very precious to him. He puts his hand on us and surrounds us with his love and protection[5].

• People of God. Through Jesus, God take us and makes us into his people. We were way far away from him. But that didn’t stop him from transforming us into a people that belong to him. He changes us into a people that can rest in him to pay for all our sins and respond in loving obedience[6]

• Mercy. We have earned God’s anger and punishment, but through Jesus he took all that on himself. He has not given us what we deserve. This is at the very heart of what mercy is and means. And his kind of mercy doesn’t change. He’s made up his mind about us and isn’t going to change it.

Wow. What a list. But I just can’t help thinking about the why. Why would God do this? What’s God’s plan for these people? Why go to all the trouble of doing all this and more for them? Why didn’t God just appear in the clouds and give us his message directly?

Peter gives us at least part of the answer right here. He did this for us so that we would shout praises to God himself. To ourselves. To our family and friends. To our coworkers. To total strangers. And our shouting is more than just our words. It will come out in our actions and attitudes.

When we meet people, we’ll remember just how far away from God we were. How there wasn’t any way for us to earn our way back to God. Our eyes will look at them as someone that God loves, and Jesus died for. It won’t matter what they’ve done, God put all their sins on Jesus, and he paid for all of them.

Our job is to love them and share why we’re doing it. It’s who we are. If you’re in Jesus, then you also enjoy these six things that God has done for us. Isn’t it about time for us to start acting like it? Talking like it? Having an attitude like it?

Noodling Questions

• How does the self-help way of life bring frustration?

• Which one of the six gifts is your favorite? Least favorite? Explain.

• Why should God’s loving forgiveness change and motivate us to serve others?

[1] Custom Market Insights, December 1, 2023

[2] Romans 5:6

[3] 1 John 4:19

[4] John 15:18,19

[5] Psalm 139:5

[6] Hebrews 4:9