A chosen people.
This idea of being chosen by God is more of a calling than a privilege, more a responsibility than a right. According to Peter, we are “rejected by humans but chosen by God.” (1 Peter 2:4) However, this does not give us the right to reject humans because we are chosen by God.
A few verses later, Peter writes this…
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)
In the midst of a verse that can cause us to become conceited about our status as God’s chosen people and special possession, we find a phrase that can easily be overlooked: “…that you might declare the praises of him who called you…”
Being chosen isn’t the end of the journey, but simply the beginning. God is inviting us into relationship so that we might declare his message of mercy to the rest of the world.
So much of Western Christianity focuses on our individual standing with God. Are we saved? Will we make it to heaven? Do I have a personal relationship with God?
While those are important questions, they cannot be the questions that dominate our understanding of what it means to be a Christian.
Notice that Peter is writing to God’s people as a community, not as individuals. While there is certainly a personal, individual aspect of following Jesus, it is in the context of a larger community that God has called us together. We are not a bunch of islands; we are a nation. We are a gathering of people, linked together through the bond of the Holy Spirit.
More important than me being a chosen person, we are a chosen people. A people chosen for a purpose.
God has called us together to be people of mercy. We have received mercy and we are called to show mercy, mercy towards one another and mercy towards every person we encounter.
If we think that we are chosen because we deserve it, we are misguided and missing the point. We are chosen because of God and God’s unyielding love, a love God wants to share with the entire world. Ultimately, we are not reservoirs for God’s love; we are conduits called to share mercy and love with all who we encounter.
shine!
Jason
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Living for forever
What does “holy” mean?
Here are a few of the definitions I found: Dedicated or consecrated to God or a religious purpose; sacred. (of a person) Devoted to the service of God.
I think a lot of people look at being holy as more about what we are not as opposed to what we are. Being holy means you don’t do all of that bad stuff like cuss, have sex, get drunk, etc.
While purity is certainly a significant part of being holy, if that is all we think it is, we are missing so much.
Consider the definitions I mentioned above. What does it mean to be dedicated or consecrated to God? What does it mean to be devoted to the service of God? I would argue that it’s ultimately about acting as a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Consider what Peter writes…
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:22-23)
The Kingdom is built on the foundation of love. Holiness and love are closely related. If we are holy, we love with purity. We don’t live for ourselves, but for the other person.
In addition to living for the other person, we live in such a way that our lives are not focused on today alone, but on how today fits in the bigger story of eternity. As Peter writes in the next two verses, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” (1 Peter 1:24-25)
While our lives on this earth may be temporary, the Kingdom we are called to serve is not. Live in such a way that your life echoes the voice of the One who saves us and sets us free. And as we do that, we will get a glimpse of the future and offer others an opportunity to see that future as well.
shine!
Jason
Here are a few of the definitions I found: Dedicated or consecrated to God or a religious purpose; sacred. (of a person) Devoted to the service of God.
I think a lot of people look at being holy as more about what we are not as opposed to what we are. Being holy means you don’t do all of that bad stuff like cuss, have sex, get drunk, etc.
While purity is certainly a significant part of being holy, if that is all we think it is, we are missing so much.
Consider the definitions I mentioned above. What does it mean to be dedicated or consecrated to God? What does it mean to be devoted to the service of God? I would argue that it’s ultimately about acting as a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Consider what Peter writes…
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:22-23)
The Kingdom is built on the foundation of love. Holiness and love are closely related. If we are holy, we love with purity. We don’t live for ourselves, but for the other person.
In addition to living for the other person, we live in such a way that our lives are not focused on today alone, but on how today fits in the bigger story of eternity. As Peter writes in the next two verses, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” (1 Peter 1:24-25)
While our lives on this earth may be temporary, the Kingdom we are called to serve is not. Live in such a way that your life echoes the voice of the One who saves us and sets us free. And as we do that, we will get a glimpse of the future and offer others an opportunity to see that future as well.
shine!
Jason
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Restored relationships
If we think about it, most of us can recall a relationship that has been damaged. A trust that has been broken. A promise that was not kept.
God is the God of restoration. His desire to make all things new is centered in the idea of renewed relationships. God wants to heal. God wants to comfort. God wants to rebuild what has been destroyed.
There may be nowhere else in all of Scripture that gets as personal about this as the encounter between Jesus and Peter. Consider Luke’s report about what happened on the night Jesus was arrested…
Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”
But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.
A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”
“Man, I am not!” Peter replied.
About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”
Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. (Luke 22:54-62)
Imagine the shame and disappointment that Peter must have felt in that moment. In a moment, Peter damaged his relationship with this man, this close friend, that he had walked with for over three years. Even when he said he wouldn’t, Peter still denied Jesus.
For most of us, that would be the end of the friendship. If most of us were in Jesus’ shoes, we would have written our former friend off and moved on. But not Jesus.
It was only days later that Peter was finishing up a night of unproductive fishing that Jesus appeared on the shore. Following the miraculous catch of fish, the disciples joined Jesus on the shore for breakfast. It was over that breakfast, at the start of a new day, that the relationship between Jesus and Peter had a new start.
God invites each of us to join him and find restoration. Whether it’s a division between us and God and us and another person, God wants us to find peace and reconciliation. It is through God that we can experience the ultimate restoration that will bless us in this life and the life to come.
shine!
Jason
God is the God of restoration. His desire to make all things new is centered in the idea of renewed relationships. God wants to heal. God wants to comfort. God wants to rebuild what has been destroyed.
There may be nowhere else in all of Scripture that gets as personal about this as the encounter between Jesus and Peter. Consider Luke’s report about what happened on the night Jesus was arrested…
Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”
But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.
A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”
“Man, I am not!” Peter replied.
About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”
Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. (Luke 22:54-62)
Imagine the shame and disappointment that Peter must have felt in that moment. In a moment, Peter damaged his relationship with this man, this close friend, that he had walked with for over three years. Even when he said he wouldn’t, Peter still denied Jesus.
For most of us, that would be the end of the friendship. If most of us were in Jesus’ shoes, we would have written our former friend off and moved on. But not Jesus.
It was only days later that Peter was finishing up a night of unproductive fishing that Jesus appeared on the shore. Following the miraculous catch of fish, the disciples joined Jesus on the shore for breakfast. It was over that breakfast, at the start of a new day, that the relationship between Jesus and Peter had a new start.
God invites each of us to join him and find restoration. Whether it’s a division between us and God and us and another person, God wants us to find peace and reconciliation. It is through God that we can experience the ultimate restoration that will bless us in this life and the life to come.
shine!
Jason
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