Living As People Belonging To God

"Today's Devotion" For February 10, 2006

Read: I Peter 2:9-12; Isaiah 43:1-21

LIVING AS PEOPLE BELONGING TO GOD

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God..."(I Peter 2:9)

There's a commercial currently airing on television which is promoting a particular mortgage company's offer to consolidate debt with their special brand of home equity loans. The commercial is centered on a man who lives in the "right kind of neighborhood," drives a new "right kind of vehicle," has the "right membership in a country club, has a "perfect family," a "perfect swimming pool," and a "perfect lawn." He asks how we like each of these things he has, and then responds with, "How do I do it? I'm in debt up to my eyeballs. Somebody help me.!"

Every time I see this commercial I'm reminded of the old "keep up with the Joneses" mentality that was often used in my younger days. It was a way to describe people's obsession with having more things than their neighbors. It was especially understood to be a "suburban thing," much like the focus of the aforementioned commercial. In both cases, the principle and point is the same: "How do I feel special unless I've got all these 'things?'"

Human nature has a tendency to identify "success" or "failure" by the amount and value of material possessions or memberships in the "right kind" of organizations. Thus, from a human perspective, Peter's description of God's people, redeemed by Jesus Christ, should mean that Christians are wildly "successful," have "valuable material possessions," and "auras of invincibility" around their heads. How else would human beings understand Peter's description of God's redeemed children as "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God," unless such a description suggested an "elitism" unacceptable to the world.

The reality of a life of faith in Jesus Christ is that God considers us to be His own special people. We are unique and different in God's eyes, but not because of what we own or what positions we hold in commerce, industry, politics, the church, or the Kiwanis Club." We are unique and different in the eyes of God, but not because we have more money, are better looking (although that could be argued for some of us :>)), or are smarter "than the average bear."

What makes us unique and different is solely God's doing. In His great love for the world and all of creation He determined from the Fall into Sin in Eden to redeem the world and creation from the powers of Sin, Death, and Satan. Inexorably, over the millennia, God continued to work our His plan for salvation until the time was right for the work to be done. Then He came into the world Himself, in the person and form of Jesus Christ. He was God's only begotten Son, who lived the holy, perfect life we couldn't live in order to bear the sins of the whole world on His head. He took our place on the Cross where His opened the door to heaven as God's accepted that sacrifice as the final payment for our sins, once and for all time. Jesus' sacrifice brings home the reality of God's love and His forgiveness for all who believe.

Thus, by God's grace, in Christ we are all that Peter describes us to be. By God's grace we are a unique and special people with a unique and special purpose. We are called into God's family, forgiven of all of our sins, live lives of daily repentance and faith so that we might be beacons of the light of God's grace to a lost and fallen world. In Christ we are truly unique and special, "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God," whose sole and only purpose in life is to live for Christ and in word and deed share His love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness with the world. Instead of lamenting "someone help me" as the man in the mortgage company commercial, we are sharing Jesus so that He can lift them out of the despair of Sin into the marvelous light of God's grace. That's what make God's people, you and me, unique, special, chosen, and God's own people - we are focused, not on ourselves, but on Jesus and reaching others for Him.

Prayer: Father, too often I measure myself and my value based upon the standards of the world and how others might treat me or see me. Forgive me for forgetting that the only standards that count are Yours, and Your standards are focused in Christ, and it is through His righteousness that You see me. Help me to understand how very special I am in Your eyes and lead me to respond in humble gratitude by living a God-pleasing life as an example to the world of Your mercy and grace. Hear me, O Father, for the sake of Christ, my Savior and Lord. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright @2006 Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.