Read: 1 Peter 2:4-10
That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you. (v. 9)
When I was growing up, we sometimes, with tongue in cheek, called Dutch people the “Frozen Chosen.” This expression is rooted in both an overemphasis of verse 9, which describes believers as being chosen, and a view that the Dutch can be rather stoic, as if there was nothing more to do until the sweet by-and-by of heaven. This is not biblical.
Believers are simultaneously “exiles” (1:1) and “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (2:9). This profound richness of belonging to God is not an invitation to inaction but an enjoinder to declare God’s excellencies. When God blessed Abraham, it was not primarily for Abraham’s benefit but for others: “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3).
Our identity and destiny are tied to Christ. As he is a “living stone,” we also “like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house” (1 Peter 1:4-5). And though we cannot offer ourselves like Christ on the cross, our lives are to offer “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” What sacrifices are those? Micah 6:8 tells us what to offer God: “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
Imagine a world where God’s chosen children offer that kind of sacrifice. When we do, we declare the excellencies of God. We are frozen no more. Light shines in the darkness. —Jon Opgenorth
As you pray, thank God for blessing you to be a blessing.
About the Author
Rev. Jon Opgenorth serves as president of Words of Hope. Previously, he served for 18 years as senior pastor at Trinity Reformed Church in Orange City, Iowa. In preparation for ministry, he received a BA in Religion from Northwestern College, and an MDiv from Fuller Theological Seminary.
