When God Calls You Higher

[David]

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“But as He which has called you is holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation.” ~1 Peter 1:15​

Sometimes life feels like you’re walking through fog. Nothing’s clear. Everything shifts. But Peter starts this section by telling you to pull your mind together, tighten it up, and get focused. “Gird up the loins of your mind” ~1 Peter 1:13. In today’s terms, he’s saying, Stop letting your thoughts run wild. Get your head straight. Fix your hope right where God tells you to fix it. Not on the economy. Not on your emotions. Not on what everybody else is doing. Set your hope fully on the grace coming when Jesus Christ shows up. That’s where your anchor is.

Then Peter turns the spotlight on your life. You can’t walk into the future God has for you while dragging the past behind you. He says, “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts” ~1 Peter 1:14. When God saved you, He didn’t put a band-aid on your old life. He gave you a new one. You were called to be holy because the God who called you is holy ~1 Peter 1:15 to 16. Holiness isn’t acting spiritual. It’s aligning every part of your life with the God who paid for you with the precious blood of Christ ~1 Peter 1:19. You don’t belong to the world anymore. You belong to the One who hung on that cross.

And Peter gets real. He says to live your time on earth “in fear” ~1 Peter 1:17. Not fear of man. Fear of God. Reverence. Respect. Awareness. The kind of fear that says, My life is not my own anymore. You weren’t bought with temporary things. You were bought with blood. That ought to straighten your walk.

But this new life God gave you isn’t just vertical. It’s horizontal. Peter says you were purified “unto unfeigned love of the brethren” ~1 Peter 1:22. Clean hearts produce real love. Not fake smiles. Not polite distance. Real, fervent love. Why? Because you were born again by the living and abiding Word of God ~1 Peter 1:23. Everything else fades. Everything else wears out. But the Word God spoke stands forever ~1 Peter 1:24 to 25. If you’re not feeding on that Word, you’re starving your soul.

That’s why Peter tells you to put away the stuff that poisons your relationships: “malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speakings” ~1 Peter 2:1. These things tear down what God is trying to build. Instead, crave the Word like a newborn craves milk. “Desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby” ~1 Peter 2:2. You can’t grow if you’re feeding your flesh more than you’re feeding your spirit.

Then Peter lifts your eyes to Jesus. He calls Him the living stone. Rejected by men. Chosen by God. Precious ~1 Peter 2:4. When you come to Him, you don’t just get forgiven. You get built into something. You become a living stone. God fits you into His house. He calls you a holy priesthood ~1 Peter 2:5. Not to burn incense. But to offer spiritual sacrifices, the worship that rises out of a life surrendered to Christ.

The world stumbles over Jesus. They trip because they refuse to believe. But to you, He is the cornerstone your whole life stands on.

And then Peter brings it home. He says, Do you know who you are? You’re not random. You’re not forgotten. You’re not leftover. You are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession” ~1 Peter 2:9. God called you out of darkness so you could show off His light. You used to be a nobody, but now you are the people of God ~1 Peter 2:10.

So lift your head. Straighten your walk. God called you higher. Live like someone He rescued. Stand on the cornerstone. Love without faking it. Feed on the Word. Throw off the garbage that slows you down. And walk as someone who belongs to God, because if you’re in Christ, that is exactly who you are.