“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.”
1 Peter 2:9 ( NIV)
Margherita pizzas originated in Naples, Italy, to honor Queen Margherita, of Italy, when she visited the city of Naples. A pizza maker wanted to honor the Queen with a pizza made of the colors of the Italian flag. The three ingredients he used were mozzarella cheese, tomato and basil, and that’s how the pizza got its name.
Beef Wellington was named after the Duke of Wellington. There is a particular type of rose named after Queen Elizabeth II, and another one named after Princess Diana of Wales. There are foods, places, flowers, roads, and many other things named after royalty. It’s a way of preserving the honor of the royal person they are named after.
Whoever is a believer in Christ is named after Him. Christian, is a name meaning “of Christ” and the suffix “ian” comes from Latin meaning possessed by or belonging to. That means we are people who belong to Christ. Instead of a food, a flower, a road or a thing, He has a universal nation, a church of believers throughout the world, in every nation, culture, race, and language, who carry His name.
Since He is royalty, then we, who carry His name, are also royals. We were meant to bring honor to Jesus, who is our King.
Scripture calls us joint heirs with Christ, and ambassadors for Christ. Any way you look at it, we have been promoted and lifted up to a status we don’t deserve, but it was bought and paid for by Christ, therefore, we live according to our true status.
We are royals because our Father is the King of the universe. We are God’s special possession, a royal priesthood and joint heirs with Jesus.
Today’s scripture says we are chosen, royal and special. God has called us out of the darkness and into His wonderful light. We are not outcasts, hoping to be accepted. We have been given this lifetime to discover our privileges and inherited blessings, so that we can live as we were meant to, as children of a king.
Jesus tells us what will happen one day when we stand before God:“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”
(Matthew 25:34)
Lord, we adore and praise you in all your majesty and royalty, and we pray we will live up to our full inheritance, in preparation for the kingdom you have prepared for us one day. Help us to live like we are your special possession, your royal heirs, according to your word. Amen