"NOW YOU ARE GOD's PEOPLE!"

1 Peter 2:7-10        (ESV)

"7 So the honor is for YOU WHO BELIEVE, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," 

8 and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for HIS own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of HIM who called you out of darkness into HIS marvelous light.

10 Once you were not a people, but "NOW YOU ARE GOD's PEOPLE"; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

There is a lot of discussion these days about celebrating, or not celebrating a flag, one that wasn't even used for what it is being claimed to have been used for.  Being perceived as "a chosen race" is a status NOT accepted by most, but easily accepted by others. There is no joy to be found in celebrating racial divides in any culture, especially the Christian culture.  But when you understand being selected by GOD as HIS child it elevates your STATUS to a whole NEW perspective!  

JESUS CHRIST completed many tasks in HIS life, including creating a NEW RACE!  The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Peter 2:9-10 that Believers are "NOW YOU ARE GOD's PEOPLE", called out of "darkness" into HIS marvelous light!  Remembering who we are IN CHRIST is something the enemy doesn't want us to do.  Whether we get treated correctly by others has no bearing on who we are. Don't get caught up in the lies of the enemy (John 8:44) and be robbed of your joy.  

But the one of the most overlooked statements is the one that says "They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do"!  A recent truth was shared that said "Satan's greatest weapon is man's IGNORANCE of GOD's Word"!  And this ignorance causes self-inflicted wounds.  There is no room for racial tensions at the foot of the cross!  The enemy gains strongholds when people don't realize who they are in JESUS CHRIST!  When I understood that I wasn't the same person I was while growing up, my whole perspective in life changed.  "NOW YOU ARE GOD's PEOPLE" is a whole new race that I am blessed to be a part of, not by anything I have done, but only by the mercy and grace provided through the death, burial and resurrection of JESUS CHRIST!  To accept anything less is to buy into the enemies lie!  Accepting the free gift of salvation means I must also accept I am part of the NEW RACE that JESUS brings!  When I allow the enemy to convince me that I am less than others, I am allowing myself to remain in the "darkness" that JESUS gave HIS life to get me out of!   

"NOW YOU ARE GOD's PEOPLE" is a status that we mustn't allow to be hidden from ourselves!  Knowing WHO we are in JESUS CHRIST is akin to setting ourselves free (John 8:32) from the "darkness", into HIS marvelous light!  Finding out who we are in JESUS CHRIST can only be done by getting to know HIM through HIS Word!  Don't allow the enemy to bring "darkness" back into your life.  "NOW YOU ARE GOD's PEOPLE"!   Let's live like it!!!