1 Peter 2:10 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.

Any Christian who reads the first 10 verses of 1 Peter 2 without getting deeply grateful and happy doesn’t know what it is saying. Peter was a Jew without question, and initially, an ignorant and uneducated one at that, but he had been touched and filled by the Spirit of God, and he is here writing to Gentiles, which is to say, the vast majority of Christians today. At the end of this letter (1 Peter 5:12) he gives credit to Silvanus (Silas) for acting as his secretary, writing what Peter dictated. That accounts for the excellent Greek, that is so good, this letter is used widely in teaching Biblical Greek. However, the actual content is what God spoke to and through Peter himself, and it is magnificent. This verse sums up the reality of salvation. To be saved, we first have to recognize that we need salvation, that we are not the people of God, that we are desperately in need of mercy. Perhaps the majority of “paper Christians,” church members who have never been born again, are that way because they have never acknowledged that they needed to be saved. It is only when we recognize how pathetic and hopeless we are without God that we have the appropriate response of gratitude and obedience for what He has done for us in Christ Jesus His Son. That’s why the devil promotes such things as “I’m OK, You’re OK,” with self-esteem as a high value. Every human being is indeed incredibly valuable, which is why murder in all its forms is so evil, but our value comes from the One who created us, and loved us so much He sent His Son to die for us. We need to recognize that, as Paul said, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) Those who have confessed Jesus as Lord shouldn’t doubt their salvation, but neither should they take any personal credit for it.

I’m in a somewhat strange position on this score. I was born into a long line of people who were committed to God and served Him faithfully, and I have been incredibly blessed in consequence. However, though I acknowledged Jesus as Lord, I did so from a position of great pride, which is about the stupidest thing I could have done. The Bible is ingrained in me, but I am still learning how to live it out. Currently, I know without question that I am a child of God, but I also know that is because I have received mercy, as Peter says here. I don’t deserve any of the good things God pours out on me continuously. I’m reminded of something my maternal grandmother said once. She was 90, living in a nursing home back in 1964, when such facilities weren’t nearly as nice as they usually are today. We had visited her as a family, and were gathered around her, singing “Amazing Grace.” When we sang the line in the second verse that says, “How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed,” she stopped us and said, “No, that’s not right.” My mother in particular was really shocked, thinking her mother had gone completely senile, but then my grandmother explained. “I only had the slightest inkling of how precious God’s grace is, when I first believed. I have been learning more of that grace every day since.” I am deeply grateful to have such a spiritual heritage!

Father, thank You indeed for Your totally amazing grace. Help me never forget or ignore it even for a moment, all the way until You, by that grace, bring me home to Yourself. Thank You. Praise God!