Welcome!
Today: God’s pick-you!
Passage: 1 Peter 2
4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2, NIV) – emphasis added
Why would God, the creator of the universe allow himself to be a “rejected” person? Doesn’t that sound like a paradox?
When God put Adam and eve in the garden and told them “you can eat all but one” , wasn’t another paradox? Why would God put His own in a “trouble” like that?
….These are questions that the “natural man” would ask (1 Cor 2:14)
We are born into a “fallen” world. Our natural mind is oriented to think in a way that is against God’s. That is why Jesus spoke about the need for a re-birth, a renewal of our mind (John 3:3)
Our spiritual eyes are naturally blinded (2 Cor 4:4). We cannot see the good things of God unless our spiritual eyes are opened
Until that time, things of the world will look like “great” in front of our eyes
But once Jesus conquers our heart, things turn upside down
We start looking at things in an entirely different way
That is why the kingdom of God is “an upside down kingdom”, for most
Peter gives a good picture of who we are and who we are called to be, in 1 Peter 2
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2, NIV)- emphasis added
In our naturally “blind” situation, we were unable to find that we were living in darkness. It took the light of God to fall in our hearts to realize who God was and as to what He means to us. That was what happened to Paul on his way to Damascus. Until that “light” struck him, he didn’t know he was on the wrong path!
Once we become God’s, He has a great great plan for us. he starts working out that plan in us. We need to understand and cooperate with God
We need to grow in our knowledge of God through His word
God “quarried” us out of that dark quarry “underground” and brought us out, “shaped us” and made us part of His great building, His kingdom!
He wants us to be “precious” stones in that “precious building” He is building
In our earthly life, we hold on to a certain car, home or a job which we cherish
But the moment we see that we can have a better one, we start to look at them in a different way. We no longer cherish the one we have been cherishing so far!
When we see Jesus as we should, the things of the world we have been “cherishing” becomes “upside down” for us. We realize that we have been walking in darkness so far, and that the real light has now come into our lives!
Praise God for this precious privilege. Get the max out of it!
Have a blessed day!
BG
Prayer: Precious Lord, thank you for the true light you focused on me. Thank you for snatching me out of that dark world of hell, and making me a part of this great royal heritage in you. Help me to max out all that is in you. Amen
“Cherishing darkness after being enlightened, is like cherishing death while you are still alive”