A people belonging to God

Ephesians 2:14-20

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.”

1 Peter 2:9

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

These verses tell a story of redemption, my story.  It’s the story of the rescue of someone too foolish to even know that they needed a way out.  But it’s the story of a rescuer who didn’t wait to be asked, but who came and sought me out and turned my heart towards Him and gave me a new identity and hope for the future. 

This morning I was being judgmental.  Sitting in my bed, I was thinking about how frustrated it makes me when people are too prideful to ask for help or even too prideful to admit that they are in a season of life where they are needy.  It infuriates me when people try to blame their situations on everyone else and don’t take responsibility for their own actions.

And yet, isn’t that what the Lord saved me from… and isn’t it what He has to keep saving me from?  Many our the days when I think I’ve got it right.  When I think I’m not needy and when I make all kinds of excuses for myself.  Sometimes I even make myself believe that my sin is better than God’s plan for my life and I’m too prideful to see anything else.  Too many times I think that I’m right.

So I’m thankful for a God who doesn’t give up on me.  He just reminds me every time that He is GOOD, and that He LOVES me.  And He reminds me that I am His.  I am part of His family, I have a new identity. 

“A people belonging to God that you may declare His praises………”