Who Am I? - Pt 3

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV).

A second thing Peter says that identifies who we are is found in the last part of the reading: "… you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy" (v. 10b). I like the word "pitied" because the word for mercy in Greek here is a verb and the closest word we have in English like "mercied" is "pitied." It's not a bad translation. When God chose us, he then saw us in our sin and guilt and condemnation and he pitied us. We are not just chosen. We are pitied. We are the not just the objects of his choice, but the objects of his mercy. I am chosen and I am pitied, or you could say I am "graced." Perhaps the reading I most go to when I begin to think of this incredible gift from God is found in the writing of the Apostle Paul. To the Romans he wrote: For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:6-11 ESV). God did not just choose me and stand aloof. He chose me and then drew near in mercy to help me and save me. My identity is fundamentally this: I have been shown mercy. I am a "mercied" person. I get my identity not first from my actions, but from being acted upon with pity. I am a pitied one. Now, take caution. This is not the same as saying that we are “pitiful.” Far from it. We are adopted children of the King of the ages! We are the chosen people of the mighty Creator of all things. However, we must recognize that we receive this position because God took pity on us and chose us. This is a grand way of describing the depth of the love of God for us!