Scripture: 1 Peter 9=17

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. 10 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.

11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

Observation: We are a Chosen people, royalty, God’s special possession. Do we ever think of ourselves as that? I think of all the hype about the royal family. Every move they make is scrutinized. Any public faux pas is headline news. They have an incredible strict set of rules of conduct. In these verses, it’s kind of the same thing. God is saying the world is scrutinizing us, we need to act in a way that brings Glory to Him, as His children. Abstain from sinful desires. Don’t give the world headline news.

Application: So many places we could go here, but let’s keep it simple. Lets go out there this week and do good. Let us not give anyone anything to accuse us of, let us let our life shine before all. Love others, respect authority, love the family of believers, fear God and remember to abstain from sinful desires.

Prayer: God we know everyone is watching us. God help us all to be examples by our actions and words. And Lord if we mess up, may we be examples in how we fix it. God give us strength to resist our sinful desires, help us to always respect authority and give us a new love for each one of God’s family. thank you Jesus, amen.