Your Citizenship
“But you are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
a people for God’s own possession,
so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him
who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
for you once were not a people,
but now you are the people of God;
you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.”
1 Peter 2:9-10
I am an American citizen. I have all the rights and privileges and responsibilities of a citizen of this great country. But I have a dual citizenship. My American citizenship will end when I die. But I also belong to the Kingdom of God! It is eternal. I have been adopted into God’s family, grafted into the His nation of Israel. God calls believers a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own possession. I now have the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of the Kingdom of God. What are these? I have the right and privilege to call God Father, to walk with Jesus in prayer, to learn about God through His word, and the right to the inheritance of God. I have the responsibility to follow God’s commandments and to be an ambassador for Him. As a part of His chosen race I have His great love, amazing grace, and sweet peace. As a royal priest I have the right to come to His throne and intercede for others. As part of a holy nation, I have the responsibility to live pure and undefiled telling others of His excellencies. As a person of God’s own possession I need not worry about not going to heaven. I have a grounded hope and expectancy of life eternal with God.
And all because of God’s mercy. He chose to extend mercy through the sacrifice and blood of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. He chose to call me out of the darkness of Satan’s kingdom of sin and shame. God chose to forgive my sins, to adopt me as His, to see what I can be, not what I was. His mercy through faith alone is the answer to this great citizenship. Are you believing in the reality of your citizenship of God’s Kingdom?
Marshall and Grandpa enjoying a flyover by the USA Air Force.