Daily Devotions based on the Sermon Series: “STRANGERS in the World”
Week 6 of 7: “Strangers…Am I the only one?”
Full Sunday message, CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL
5 IDENTITIES God wants you to embrace!
1 Peter 2:10 “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.”
In the midst of a presidential campaign, key messages of the candidates put forward a message of what defines America and what unifies America. As a voter, you evaluate those messages and try to determine, “What type of nation, what type of people do we want to be?” Are we a people defined by “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” or something else?
We search as a nation to define who we are as a people. What are our values? What is our shared vision? Perhaps the struggles we are seeing in our culture are the challenge we are facing to define ourselves as “a people.”
While we strive to understand our values as citizens of this country and find unity as a people, we probably will never experience that perfectly in a secular society.
Many nations have come and gone. Many people groups have been defined by different values or customs. But none of them is stable and lasting.
But there is one that is stable and lasting…and you are part of it. Peter gives us the fifth identity to embrace. “you are the people of God.” This designation has always been a special reality that God has given. For Old Testament believers God chose the descendants of Israel to be a special group to be part of his salvation plan.
King David said it this way: (1 Chronicles 17:20-22) “There is no one like you, O Lord, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth whose God went out to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for yourself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? You made your people Israel your very own forever, and you, O Lord, have become their God.
Israel was singled out of all the nations for a special purpose. God’s people today are not defined by a genetic make up or a physical border. The key definition of what makes us the people of God is the fact we are the recipients of God’s mercy. We are not defined by how long we’ve been a church member, how many hours of service I’ve performed, or what causes I have been part of. We are defined by our need for a Savior. Our sin made us “not a people.” Before Jesus in our life we “had not received mercy.” But now in Christ we “have received mercy” and therefore also given the identity as “the people of God.” Simply put, we are defined by the forgiveness God has graciously given to us.
Enjoy living in the reality that you are the people of God who has received the mercy of God!
Apply: What difference does it make in your life to know you are a person of God who has received the mercy of God?
Prayer: Lord thank you for defining me in your love as an individual who is a chosen, holy, royal, belongs and is one of your people. Help me each day to embrace this identity and live it and share it with others.