You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. 1 Peter 2:9
Sometimes people seek to enhance their position and the kind of work they do by inventing high-sounding titles. A barber becomes a tonsorial artist; an elevator operator, an engineer in charge of vertical transportation; and a bit on the humorous side, a soda jerk, a fizzicist.
People outside Christendom may wonder about the names and titles by which God honors His people. Christ’s enemies may have wondered about His title: the Son of God. When Pontius Pilate had the lowly, beaten Jesus before him, he may have smiled when he hard Him affirm His divine kingship. But our Lord was indeed the King of heaven and earth, for He was the Son of the Highest.
Christians are called kings and priests in the Bible. These are not empty, pretentious titles. The exalted, enthroned Christ has truly made them rulers with Him in heavenly places. Saint Peter tells all Christians: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.” They came to be God’s people because Jesus Christ purchased them with His blood and set them free so that they might declare God’s praises, who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. These God-given titles deal with reality.
So it is with every other name by which God honors Christians. They are truly His children – by adoption, yes, but truly His sons and daughters and the heirs of eternal life. The very name “Christian,” although originally given them by the enemies of the Gospel, is an honorable designation, for it connects them with Christ.
Kings, priests, God’s offspring, children of light, Christians – these are faith-implying, faith-strengthening titles. We are honored to bear them. What remains is that we live up to them by glorifying God.
PRAYER: O Lord God, strengthen my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, so that I may honor You and live according to Your Word Amen.
(Devotions from "With Jesus Every Day" copyright 1997, CPH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. Permission is granted for one-time emailing of this link to a friend. For information on other devotional material, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit CPH at www.cph.org.)
Today's Bible Readings: Job 25-27 Matthew 12:24-50
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