Daily Devotions in I Peter 2

Daily Nugget:

From time to time, many Christians lose sight of who they are in God’s eyes. Peter gives us at least seven reminders of who the child of God is.

1. He is chosen (I Peter 2:9). As sinful as we are, and even though we have let God down so many times, He has chosen us!
2. He makes up the royal priesthood. 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 to the Lord in prayer for themselves and others. They can give their lives for the needs of others. We are born into the royal family of God and can boldly go to the throne room of God.
3. He makes up a “holy nation.” 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, we are holy.
4. He is a peculiar person (I Peter 2:9). A Christian should think, act, and live differently than the lost. In the eyes of an unsaved, the Christian is odd because he is not living like the world and is doing his best to obey God’s commandments.
5. He is a part of the “people of God” (I Peter 2:10). A Christian belongs to the largest family in the world — the family of God.
6. He is a stranger in this world. “Strangers” in the Old Testament were gentiles who lived with the Jews. They were tolerated, but they were different. Because of his adoption into the family of God, the Christian lives among the lost in this world but does not quite fit in with them.
7. He is a pilgrim. A pilgrim 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.

Today’s Thought: 
“What did you have to give up to be a Christian?”
“Hell!” — Author Unknown

Words to Understand:
Froward: Self-willed; not easy to deal with
Guile: tricky; cunning
Malice: desiring to harm others; spite

Today’s Reading:
I Peter 2
1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
4 ¶ To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
13 ¶ Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.