(excerpt from today's message) If we truly believe that God is real, that He created us in His image, that there is an eternal realm where God exists, and that the day will come when Jesus Christ returns for His bride, and we will spend eternity with Him, then I have to ask myself: Am I living my life with that end in mind?
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9)
Peter is making a spiritual comparison of us, New Testament believers, to the nation of Israel: God’s chosen people. It is a remarkable and high calling.
See God didn't chose Israel because they were better, or more spiritual: He chose them because He chose to chose them. When God gave the law through Moses, He was not trying to keep the Israelites from having fun: He was setting them apart to he holy, distinct, different from all the other nations. He gave them special instructions for eating, for marriage, for raising their children, so that over time the other nations would see the harmony and peace that following God brought to their lives, and they would be a light to the nations!
And that is our purpose as NT Christians. God calls us to live lives that are set apart, different from the rest of the world, not so that we can think we are better or more holy, but so that the world can see the peace, beauty, and love of our lives in contrast to the conflict, carnage, and pain of the rest of the world!
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. (2 Cor 5:20)
We are called to live in a way that, by our very lives, and the lives of our family and children, that we would be lights to a dark and dying world. That everything in our lives: our possessions, our career, our relationships, even our checkbook – these things would be a testimony to the God we serve!
May the Lord bless you as you seek Him for purpose in the coming year.
Pastor Clay
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