Identified

I believe the book of 1 Peter has great relevance for us today.  It was written to a group of Christians who needed to know how to be Christ-like in a pagan world.  This book provides us with answers on how to respond to culture (1:13-16), government (2:13-17), critics (2:12), fellow Christians (4:8-11), etc.  Although it has been nearly 2,000 years since Peter wrote his letter some things haven’t changed.  As we learn to live in a world which is distinctly non-Christian, it is good to have a book like 1 Peter to guide us along the way.

Peter’s readers suffered from an identity crisis, and throughout the letter he informs them of who they are.  This was a problem during Peter’s day because Christianity was a new religion, but it remains a problem today.  We assume everyone knows what it means to be a Christian, but this is not the case.  Christians who do not know their identity will probably never grow and develop as they should, and they risk falling away.  If Christians cannot tell people who they are, then this is also a problem for the church.  How will we ever tell people about Christianity if we do not grasp the idea ourselves?

In the first two verses of his letter, Peter begins to tell his readers who they are.  He describes them as “resident aliens” (1:1).  They live in the world, but this world is not their home.  Part of our identity includes where we live.  You have probably heard the saying, “Home is where the heart is.”  Where is your heart?  Is it set on things below or things above?  Next Peter identifies his readers as “chosen” or “elect” (1:2).  This is an important identification in many ways.  The people he was writing to had been rejected by society, but now he is telling them they have been chosen by God.  We may be unimportant in the eyes of the world, but in God’s eyes we are special.  God wants us to know who we are.  He wants us to understand our identity.  When we begin to wrap our minds around who we are in Christ Jesus, we will never be the same.

“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.” (1 Peter 2:9)