{"id":7206,"date":"2015-11-12T20:04:24","date_gmt":"2015-11-12T20:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=7206"},"modified":"2015-11-13T01:49:21","modified_gmt":"2015-11-13T01:49:21","slug":"1-peter-29-10-your-high-calling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=7206","title":{"rendered":"1 Peter 2:9-10\u2014Your high calling"},"content":{"rendered":"
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light; which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. <\/em>1 Peter 2:9-10, KJV<\/p>\n This portion of Peter\u2019s letter is one of the most stirring descriptions of the Church found in Scripture. Whenever I read it, I love to savor each phrase, one chunk at a time.<\/p>\n But ye are a chosen generation<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n As a teacher, I taught my students that writing conventions frowned upon beginning a sentence with \u201cBUT\u201d. However, here, in this wonderful description of the Church founded on the Rock, \u201cBUT\u201d is aptly placed as a neon sign. It declares, \u201cSome will follow their own conceits all the way to their doom, BUT you<\/em>, believer in Jesus, will enjoy an entirely different<\/em> outcome in life.\u201d<\/p>\n You are a chosen generation<\/em>. Peter wrote to the first generation to trust in Christ. They were chosen out <\/em>of their generation, and together, they formed their own<\/em> generation. You and I are likewise members of that chosen generation\u2014the only generation that spans decades, centuries, and even a millennium or two! Together, all of us in Christ present a formidable obstacle to the forces of darkness that have sought to run the show here on earth since the days of Adam and Eve; but even individually, each one of us\u2014chosen by God and made new in Christ\u2014threaten the agenda of the evil one.<\/p>\n \u2026 a royal priesthood<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n You are part of a royal priesthood. You are a priest<\/em> because as a Christian you are called to stand before men on behalf of God and<\/em> to stand before God on behalf of men. You are royal because of your new parentage\u2014you\u2019ve been adopted as a son or daughter by the King of kings and Lord of lords. Hold your head high. Your Father is the King.<\/p>\n Think of that next time you pray. You approach God\u2014not as some distant, uninterested Being\u2014but as your Father\u2014your loving Daddy. If that\u2019s hard to imagine because of an absent, abusive or coldly distant father, picture this:<\/p>\n Among the hundreds of photos from John F. Kennedy\u2019s presidency is a series that captured my heart. Present in the Oval Office were his pre-school children Caroline and John John, happily playing, doing somersaults, and hiding under his desk.\u00a0As their father worked, conducting the business of the\u00a0nation, he\u00a0fondly glanced their way, bending to ruffle their hair and beaming with love and delight at their antics. You go before God<\/em> not only to conduct Kingdom business, but also to just spend time in His presence as He goes about His task of being God. Your heavenly Father, even more than JFK with his kids, beams with love at you,<\/em> His royal priest and<\/em> His precious child. Bask in it!<\/p>\n \u2026 a holy nation<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n Together, you, I, and all the believers to ever live, comprise a holy nation<\/em>. We live under the governmental laws of the Kingdom of God and we pledge our love and allegiance to our Sovereign,\u00a0the Lord God Almighty. The boundaries of our land is the border between Light and darkness. We dwell in the Light; we reach out into the darkness as ambassadors of the Light to rescue those who are snared by its shackles. We no longer live under the laws<\/em> of that dark land for\u00a0our Father\u00a0rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).<\/p>\n \u2026 a peculiar people<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n