STRANGERS and PILGRIMS

Oops!...We nearly missed a beautiful gem that Peter slips in, borrowed from the prophet Hosea:

“...were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy”  2:10

Don’t you just love the way this rough and ready fisherman balances his down-to-earth reality with profound use of Holy Scripture.       
Next he gives us some very practical guidance on what is expected of us – as worldlings?                                          

No, as strangers and pilgrims!                                       

Is this how we are to behave?...enjoying porn, acting as if above the law, insulting other people, attacking fellow-believers, bad-mouthing the president, cheating my boss.... Not at all!                                                           

We are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, so Peter reminds us SIX WAYS of the Man of Isaiah 53:

• He suffered for us
• He did no sin
• He reviled not
• He bore our sins in His own body on the tree
• By whose stripes we are healed
• You were as sheep going astray

Yes, by God’s mercy we are now His people - so we’d better act like it.