A Royal Priesthood
The Apostle Peter writes,
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, 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.
Dear friends,
I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. 1 Peter 2:9-12
For me this is a very important statement by Peter. One all believers in Christ need to think carefully about.
Peter is noting that believers in Christ are,
“A chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
As a “royal priesthood” called to declare the praises of God. We must live lives worthy of God.
We are Christ’s representatives on this earth. Thus we must follow the teachings of Christ to Love God, Lover our Neighbour whoever he or she may be. We must Love our enemy and pray for those who persecute us.
In short we must show love and mercy to all people because in sending His Son to die for us God set the example.
We must at all times remember that we are strangers in this world. The American Evangelist Billy Graham stating,
"Dear friends,
I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
Thus the question becomes, if you claim to be a believer in Christ are you living a life worthy of a representative of Jesus Christ, worthy of God?
Please think about it.
The Apostle Peter writes,
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, 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.
Dear friends,
I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. 1 Peter 2:9-12
For me this is a very important statement by Peter. One all believers in Christ need to think carefully about.
Peter is noting that believers in Christ are,
“A chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
As a “royal priesthood” called to declare the praises of God. We must live lives worthy of God.
We are Christ’s representatives on this earth. Thus we must follow the teachings of Christ to Love God, Lover our Neighbour whoever he or she may be. We must Love our enemy and pray for those who persecute us.
In short we must show love and mercy to all people because in sending His Son to die for us God set the example.
We must at all times remember that we are strangers in this world. The American Evangelist Billy Graham stating,
“My home is in Heaven.
I'm just traveling through this world.”
Billy Graham
Peter telling us,"Dear friends,
I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
Thus the question becomes, if you claim to be a believer in Christ are you living a life worthy of a representative of Jesus Christ, worthy of God?
Please think about it.
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