Chosen for Obedience
Chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ. (I Peter 1:2)
I Pet. 1:1-9; Ex. 19:5, 6a; Dt. 5:29; Mt. 7:21; Jn. 14:28 and 15:10, 11
What Is God Saying?
Peter probably wrote this from Rome. Note that Babylon in 5:13 is the code name for Rome. It was addressed to five churches in the Northern region of present-day Turkey. It was not a good time to be a Christian, thanks to Nero. Christians everywhere must have felt weary, the plague of nagging doubts, a mood of discouragement in their struggle against the godless world about them. Peter knew what was happening in the world and what might happen to Christians in that world.
His first word to them was a clear trumpet call. It also supports the Doctrine of the Trinity. He is saying, ‘See what you are. Then be what you are and do what you ought to do.’ We will scarcely find a more succinct, yet all-inclusive definition of a Christian. Hear it in your heart. Live it m your life. Learn it by heart.
How Does This Apply To Us?
If ever the Holy Scriptures spoke to its own time and ours, it is in the letters of Peter. The world was and is trying to squeeze the Christian into its mold. Perhaps many of us are not now suffering for obedience to Christ, but who can deny that we are living in a world in which obedience to Jesus Christ is thought to be something ranging from mild ignorance to wild insanity? God's plan for human life and the drift of the world into moral chaos are poles apart. Secular humanism wants nothing to do with concepts like sanctification by the Spirit or obedience to Jesus, yet these are the key ingredients of the Christian life.
Peter reminds us that in the world, we will suffer if we are obedient to Christ; we will be thought peculiar. The world is caught in the pull of evil like a boat nearing the brink of Niagara. Refusing the rope (the hope) sent from God in Jesus Christ, disaster waits at the bottom of the falls. However, for all God's people who through Christ have ‘died to sin and live to righteousness’ there is hope for the future. We have the greatest happiness in this life and sublime joy in Heaven.
Pray With Me
Heavenly Father, it is a sacred privilege to be chosen by You. It is wonderful beyond all understanding even though I feel unworthy to be chosen to live for the glory of Jesus Christ. Yet I must not only rejoice in the fact that to be chosen is to be privileged, but I must also understand that to be privileged is to be responsible. I am set apart by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ. ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.’ With the Psalmist I say, ‘Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain unto it.’ Yet, there it is—a hand that lifts, a voice that commands, a love that will not let me go. Such grace can only be accepted in reverent and holy wonder. Such undeserving favor calls for gratitude too full and too deep for words.
Yet, O God, Your chosen ones are not merely to say the proper things and lay the formal gift at the altar and go on their way unchanged. Those chosen and destined are set apart by the Holy Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ. Today let me move beyond the wonder of being chosen into the deeper joy of a daily, practical walk with Christ.
In the name of Him who said, ‘If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.’ Amen.
Moving On In The Life of Prayer
Obedience to Jesus Christ will include prayer. He said to His disciples when you pray not if you pray (Luke 11:12). He told them ‘always to pray and not lose heart’ (Luke 18:8). There is a close connection between praying and resisting discouragement. If we forget or lose that connection, we need to plug in again!
