1 PETER 2:9-10

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.

TO PONDER

You have been chosen, or should I say Y’all because the ‘you’ here is plural in the Greek of the New Testament. You people of God are chosen to be a royal priesthood together as a holy nation. 

To be a holy nation is to be set-apart together for God’s purposes. To be a priesthood is to stand together as intercessors for the world before the throne of God and together make the personal sacrifices necessary for the mission of love and Good News. The Good News that Jesus leads people out of darkness into his wonderful light to receive his mercy, which is his tender, abiding love, and his generous provision in all circumstances.

There’s a lot to take in. Being a holy nation, being a priesthood, being God’s special possession. But we don’t have to fathom it out alone because we are a part of the ‘Y’all’, united in Christ through his resurrection for Y’all and your neighbour. Yippee and yeehaw. Life as it should be! 

PRAYER: Father, in the midst of dying church structures, outdated human hierarchies and ancient, redundant cultural norms, open our hearts and minds to the truth of Jesus and his eternal life-giving Word. Help us to heed his call to go and serve those who are serving others. Amen.

Today's devotion written by David Schuppan, LifeWay Illawarra