1 Peter 2:10

New International Version

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.

For Encouragement

Sometimes, it is good to stop everything to reflect on the goodness of God and rejoice and praise Him. Despite our dire circumstances and the crushing weight of our condemning sin, with its tremendous afflictions, we have cause to thank the Lord and praise Him. For where would we be without His love, mercy, and grace?

Our focal scripture reminds us of our former terrible situation before Christ and sets it against the backdrop of what the grace of God has made us in Christ Jesus (1 Peter 2:10). Peter reminds us we had no identity as a people. However, we have now become a people of God in Christ. His mercy was far from us. His justice, therefore, mandated our condemnation to death and hell. 

But through Christ, our situation has changed forever, hallelujah! We have received mercy and grace for our salvation.

We now have an identity in Christ as a people of God because of the outpouring of His mercy on us. God calls us His chosen people, His royal priests, His holy nation, and His very own possession (9). What Israel was to God, we have become to Him in Christ and much more.

Paul puts it this way: 

Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews… In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:11-13).

O blessed ‘but’! 

How tall it stands between our past and present lives to highlight God’s grace lavished on us, reminding us of our current eternal situation in Christ Jesus – the fulcrum on which our lives changed that we will never forget.

In verses 1- 6, Paul reminds us of our dead situation in our transgressions and sins, but for the grace of God, we are now alive in Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly realms.

In 1 Corinthians 1:26-30, the apostle prompts us to remember our nothingness in this world before Christ, but for God! Through Jesus, He has used our foolishness, weakness, and debased position in life to display His glory to the world. Isn’t that wonderful?

So why can’t we praise the Lord today? Why can’t we worship God acceptably in response to Paul’s passionate appeal to us who are beneficiaries of His grace (Romans 12:1-2)?

Praise the Lord, somebody!