‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession.’ 1 Peter 2:9
Through Jesus, we are set apart!
Back in my primary school playground, I remember being ‘set apart’, but not in a good way. As the least athletic of the boys in my class, I was always ‘set apart’, or in other words, I was left last when teams were being picked for football. Sometimes I just wasn’t even picked and was left to stand apart from everyone else. Then as I entered post-primary school, I remember myself and a few friends being ‘set apart’, again in a negative sense by a group of bullies who locked us in a storage room under the rugby pavilion every day at lunchtime.
However, in Jesus, we are set apart not for a negative reason, but for the glory of God. In doing so, God has transformed our identity from people who had no future and no hope to being a people who have within us the hope of glory. When we begin to grasp this reality, it enables us to set aside all the negative experiences of our past lives and focus on the greater things that are yet to come.
As those who live and lead like Jesus, we need to realise not only that we have been set apart but why we have been set apart. 1 Peter 2:9 makes it clear that we are:
- a chosen race
- a royal priesthood
- a holy nation
- a people for His own possession.
For too long many believers have been under the bondage that comes from not fully knowing who they are. In this season, when the world wants to rob us of our identity, we need to know more than ever who we are and why we have been set free.
The next time the enemy tries to tell you that you are not worthy, not able or not qualified remind him that through Jesus you are a paid in full member of a chosen race, part of a royal priesthood, a holy nation and His own possession.
Father, we thank You that we have been set apart by You. We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and a people of Your possession. We choose to rise up in our royal identity, knowing that with You all things are possible and knowing that through You we will see Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, in Jesus’ name, Amen!