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.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
God is working in us to enable us to look like Him and not the world around us. He has redeemed us to look like Him. In the above passage we have Peter’s words about how to live in this out in front of the world around us. Since we have been called to His Kingdom, we are to live like citizens of His Kingdom and not this kingdom. In fact, Peter makes the point to say we are actually “sojourners and exiles” in this kingdom. We are are to be aliens and not seek asylum in this country. We are citizens of Heaven. We are holy and therefore we are to act holy. By living this way, would should not only look odd in comparison to this world, but we should also look attractive to this world. Instead of trying to fit into this world, we ought to try to look like Christ. By keeping our conduct “honorable” among the world, we are able to live above what they say about us and be attractive for the purpose of praising God. That is the ultimate complement of our behavior. Not that they would quit saying evil about us, but that they would sing praises to Him!!
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