“But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. ‘Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.'”
Have you ever had someone remind you who you really are? Perhaps you have forgotten your worth or value, but a friend speaks into that place and shows you just how loved you are. In today’s passage, Peter is reminding the Jewish Christians that they have always been God’s chosen people. They have always belonged to God. Even though that is not enough to make a person right with God, it is a reminder of how much he loves his people.
Peter references Hosea 1-2, a small book in the Old Testament from the prophet Hosea. He had a strange assignment, as most of the prophets did: marry a prostitute. God was revealing through Hosea that he would continually fight for his people and reconcile them into right relationship with himself. They had been unfaithful and forgotten God, but he would never forget them. Peter is reminding his readers of this lesson once again in the midst of Jesus dramatically shifting their perspectives on salvation.
Here’s your freedom for today: God will never give up on you. Peter’s message was continually about the ways that Jesus fulfilled God’s promises. Jesus was not replacing anything that the Jewish people had received from God in the past. Rather, Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and rescue plan was everything God had always promised his people. He never gave up on them no matter how many times they complained or turned away from him. If you are feeling far from God today, hold on to the truth that he will never, ever give up on you. You are loved.