We Gained It All

Bill Brinkworth

From time to time many Christians lose sight of who they are in God’s eyes. In I Peter 2, Peter gives us at least eight reminders regarding who the child of God really is.

He is chosen (vs. 9). As sinful as we have been, and even though we have let God down so many times, He has chosen us!
He makes up the royal priesthood (vs. 9). In Old Testament times there were priests picked because of the family they had come from – the tribe of Levi. Although there are to be no priests in this New Testament age that function as did the Old Testament priest, each believer is a priest. They can go directly to the Lord in prayer for themselves and others, as did the Old Testament priests. They can give their life for the needs of others. We are born into the royal family of God and can boldly go to the throne room of God.
He makes up a “holy nation” (vs. 9). With their sins all forgiven, in God’s sight we are a holy people. We are not better than anyone else. We are not perfect. However, by the grace of God, in His eyes, we are holy.
He is a peculiar person (vs. 9). A Christian should think, act, and live differently than the unsaved. In the eyes of the unsaved, the Christian is odd because he is not living like the world and is doing his best to obey God’s commandments.
He is a part of the “people of God” (vs. 10). A Christian belongs to the largest family in the world — the family of God.
He is a stranger in this world (vs. 11). “Strangers” in the Old Testament were gentiles that lived with the Jews. They were around the Jews, but they were not the same as they. They were tolerated, but they were different. The Christian, because of his adoption into the family of God, lives among the lost in this world, but does not quite fit in with them.
He is a pilgrim (vs. 11). A pilgrim is one who is traveling through a certain place without a permanent abode. The Christian is bound for heaven and just “passing through” this temporary life.

Instead of being envious of what the world is doing, and what they temporarily have, we need to remember a born-again person is a child of God. By God’s grace we have far more than we deserve. We are on the winning side. Let the lost follow our example, rather than our following theirs — the losing side. Be proud if you are a Christian, not indecisive and trying to live in both worlds.