Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture:
“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner,”
and
“A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
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. ~ I Peter 2:1-10
Now you are God's people. Now you have received mercy.
How does it feel to be declared a child of God? For many, the first time that happened was as an infant at baptism.
And maybe no one declared it to you since then. Hopefully they have.
There is something in that declaration. Something in that claim we have. Something in that promise that calls us to live that truth.
You are God's people. You are God's person. We are God's people.
One of my seminary professors used to put it this way: what are you going to do now that you don't have to do anything?
God's already claimed you. Already named you. Already loved you. Already forgiven you.
So...what are you going to do now? How are you going to live into that claim?
What are you going to do with that truth?
I am yours. Help me to live as yours. Amen