Reading:
1 Peter 2:2-10
Devotional:
My child came into the room this week and declared, “We need a parallel circuit instead of a series circuit!” These are all words that independently have meaning to me, but in this sentence had none. “A what?” After a few more attempts to help me understand, we determined I needed the instructions to the circuit toy if I was going to be of any assistance. Upon reading about both circuits, I now had additional language and context about voltage and current. But I could not fix whatever problem in the circuit was preventing the planet from glowing.
Sometimes we have all the right language, even mature language that is beyond our experience or years. Or further, we might have instructions to explain our terminology or to make something make sense, but in either case, the words and reasons don't determine our capacity for the task itself. We need an outside catalyst to make it happen and to show us how it's done.
This is where we are with Peter. He's just told us (and all our early Christian friends in Asia Minor) to take heart if we face trials, even to be expectant in suffering, noting that we can be assured in Christ's work, confident in His example before us. He's reminded us to honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor our kings, in a nice tidy list.
We get the concepts, and we can even see the hope and life underpinning Peter’s exhortation. But that doesn't make the job of loving, honoring, or respecting all of a sudden easier or lighter, especially when accompanied by trials and suffering. And in our old kingdom habits, it's so tempting to put that gap between knowing and doing back on ourselves: try harder, love Him more, sacrifice more, strive more. (As if we could coerce God into treating us better with our good behavior!)
So in today's section, Peter comes back to identity and capacity, refocusing on the who and how of the kingdom. He's been building the case that we are part of God's family, using the same words that have historically been used to speak of Israel. Now, Peter says it outright: we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, the people of God.
If our early Christians felt other or outside, Peter is quelling their anxieties. They (and we) are most assuredly considered and included, of the same Father. But in the middle of suffering, when we are drawn back to our default, old kingdom evaluation of our performance equaling our identity, we need to hear it again and again: we belong to the Father. Full stop.
Equally, we need to hear the words of capacity again. He starts by saying desiring the Word (Christ) just like an infant wants milk, the same craving, so that by it we grow in our salvation. Like we discussed Sunday, because we know Jesus, we then know the Father, and we find salvation.
Desire to know Him. Knowing takes time, each moment building on the last as the relationship develops. You learn speech patterns, different laughs or tones, and you take comfort in a quiet lull. Knowing can be as simple as a name to start, then can become richer over time, more nuanced and deepening.
Where our capacity starts at desire, or to say it a different way, when we might only know His name, Peter invites us to see what becomes: like Christ before us, we are being built up as living stones, to be a spiritual house, a dwelling place, another room. “You are being built,” not “You build.” It's passive voice, that thing in grammar that means something is happening to you, not that you are doing the action yourself. Just like in chapter 1, it's Christ’s work that gives us assurance and confidence. Here again we are told that the building and growing is happening to us. Breathe a collective sigh of relief that it's not on us to do.
So then, we are built up as living stones. Stone because we are fixed in our identity with God–we are His people and have received His mercy. And living because He abides with us and is causing us to grow. The cornerstone makes the building true, plumb, and square–we are aligned to Him, then growing outward in Life.
And from this building, through Jesus Christ, come spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. Not the sacrifices we force ourselves into or the suffering we assign to ourselves in the name of striving for holiness. Sacrifices just come, natural outputs of the obedient, fervent love He is stirring in us. Acceptable here is more than something average or passable. It's not merely eking by. Acceptable includes the idea of something to look forward to or anticipate. Something precious is being built in us and is coming out of us.
With this mindset, we don't reject the thing God is using to build us. We take heart knowing the thing no one would normally build with becomes foundational. We don't have to force our growth or becoming, introducing new things for ourselves to stumble over. Instead, we relax into knowing Him, because building takes time. We might not understand all the why’s and how's just yet, but He is building something precious and worth longing for all the same.
Peter knows we need this encouragement. He recognizes that we are all at different points in our journey following Christ, in our becoming a dwelling place. And it's okay, because our identity is settled and our capacity is being grown. The new kingdom and its surprising manner of being are accomplished through Christ in us, the recipients of His mercy.
A Prayer for Each Moment
God who Abides,
Through Your Son, we can see You and know You. Let our hearts not be troubled as we are reminded of our belief in You and in Your Son and comforted that You choose to abide with us. For from You and through You and to You are all things. To You be the glory forever!
Amen
A Prayer for Each Other
Our Father,
In our grieving, when we’re scrutinized, when we feel unknown, and in our weakest points, may we experience the life of Your presence abiding with us, leading us and teaching us. Even now, let us feel our hearts enlarge with delight and our eyes open to the wonder of beholding You.
Amen
Blessing
May we be reminded and encouraged that we are being built, by design, for a life of belonging with the Father—called to believe Him and given everything we need to become like Him.
Photo by Tetiana SHYSHKINA on Unsplash
1 Peter 2:2-10
Devotional:
My child came into the room this week and declared, “We need a parallel circuit instead of a series circuit!” These are all words that independently have meaning to me, but in this sentence had none. “A what?” After a few more attempts to help me understand, we determined I needed the instructions to the circuit toy if I was going to be of any assistance. Upon reading about both circuits, I now had additional language and context about voltage and current. But I could not fix whatever problem in the circuit was preventing the planet from glowing.
Sometimes we have all the right language, even mature language that is beyond our experience or years. Or further, we might have instructions to explain our terminology or to make something make sense, but in either case, the words and reasons don't determine our capacity for the task itself. We need an outside catalyst to make it happen and to show us how it's done.
This is where we are with Peter. He's just told us (and all our early Christian friends in Asia Minor) to take heart if we face trials, even to be expectant in suffering, noting that we can be assured in Christ's work, confident in His example before us. He's reminded us to honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor our kings, in a nice tidy list.
We get the concepts, and we can even see the hope and life underpinning Peter’s exhortation. But that doesn't make the job of loving, honoring, or respecting all of a sudden easier or lighter, especially when accompanied by trials and suffering. And in our old kingdom habits, it's so tempting to put that gap between knowing and doing back on ourselves: try harder, love Him more, sacrifice more, strive more. (As if we could coerce God into treating us better with our good behavior!)
So in today's section, Peter comes back to identity and capacity, refocusing on the who and how of the kingdom. He's been building the case that we are part of God's family, using the same words that have historically been used to speak of Israel. Now, Peter says it outright: we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, the people of God.
If our early Christians felt other or outside, Peter is quelling their anxieties. They (and we) are most assuredly considered and included, of the same Father. But in the middle of suffering, when we are drawn back to our default, old kingdom evaluation of our performance equaling our identity, we need to hear it again and again: we belong to the Father. Full stop.
Equally, we need to hear the words of capacity again. He starts by saying desiring the Word (Christ) just like an infant wants milk, the same craving, so that by it we grow in our salvation. Like we discussed Sunday, because we know Jesus, we then know the Father, and we find salvation.
Desire to know Him. Knowing takes time, each moment building on the last as the relationship develops. You learn speech patterns, different laughs or tones, and you take comfort in a quiet lull. Knowing can be as simple as a name to start, then can become richer over time, more nuanced and deepening.
Where our capacity starts at desire, or to say it a different way, when we might only know His name, Peter invites us to see what becomes: like Christ before us, we are being built up as living stones, to be a spiritual house, a dwelling place, another room. “You are being built,” not “You build.” It's passive voice, that thing in grammar that means something is happening to you, not that you are doing the action yourself. Just like in chapter 1, it's Christ’s work that gives us assurance and confidence. Here again we are told that the building and growing is happening to us. Breathe a collective sigh of relief that it's not on us to do.
So then, we are built up as living stones. Stone because we are fixed in our identity with God–we are His people and have received His mercy. And living because He abides with us and is causing us to grow. The cornerstone makes the building true, plumb, and square–we are aligned to Him, then growing outward in Life.
And from this building, through Jesus Christ, come spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. Not the sacrifices we force ourselves into or the suffering we assign to ourselves in the name of striving for holiness. Sacrifices just come, natural outputs of the obedient, fervent love He is stirring in us. Acceptable here is more than something average or passable. It's not merely eking by. Acceptable includes the idea of something to look forward to or anticipate. Something precious is being built in us and is coming out of us.
With this mindset, we don't reject the thing God is using to build us. We take heart knowing the thing no one would normally build with becomes foundational. We don't have to force our growth or becoming, introducing new things for ourselves to stumble over. Instead, we relax into knowing Him, because building takes time. We might not understand all the why’s and how's just yet, but He is building something precious and worth longing for all the same.
Peter knows we need this encouragement. He recognizes that we are all at different points in our journey following Christ, in our becoming a dwelling place. And it's okay, because our identity is settled and our capacity is being grown. The new kingdom and its surprising manner of being are accomplished through Christ in us, the recipients of His mercy.
A Prayer for Each Moment
God who Abides,
Through Your Son, we can see You and know You. Let our hearts not be troubled as we are reminded of our belief in You and in Your Son and comforted that You choose to abide with us. For from You and through You and to You are all things. To You be the glory forever!
Amen
A Prayer for Each Other
Our Father,
In our grieving, when we’re scrutinized, when we feel unknown, and in our weakest points, may we experience the life of Your presence abiding with us, leading us and teaching us. Even now, let us feel our hearts enlarge with delight and our eyes open to the wonder of beholding You.
Amen
Blessing
May we be reminded and encouraged that we are being built, by design, for a life of belonging with the Father—called to believe Him and given everything we need to become like Him.
Photo by Tetiana SHYSHKINA on Unsplash