Do you know Who you are and what is your Identity?

But you are a chosen ace, 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 not you are God’s people. 

- 1 Peter 2:9, 10

Double take 

My late father-in-law, Dr. Lane Adams, liked to tell a story which he intended as a way of getting his audiences to think about themselves in a proper light.

He’d seen the actor Kirk Douglas on an afternoon talk show, and Mr. Douglas related how he was driving down the coastal highway in California one day and came upon a sailor with a large duffle bag, thumbing for a ride. So he drove past him a bit and pulled over, signaling that the young man should come up and get in. The sailor ran to his car, opened the back seat and threw in his duffle bag, then jumped into the front seat. He looked over at Kirk Douglas, looked away, then looked back and said, astonished, “Do you know who you are?!”

We might ask the same of one another as God’s chosen people, His royal priesthood, His proud possession, His designated proclaimers of the excellenceis of King Jesus: 

Do we know who we are?

Oh, my Father… 

A second story illustrates the potential of our being ready with this Kingdom mindset. Susie and I heard California psychologist John Gatuso relate a story about a cocktail party he once attended with some of the young up-and-comers of the Southern California scene. At one point in the evening he found himself in a small circle of young men who were boasting about their pedigrees: “Well myfather owns so many businesses….” “My father has thousands of acres and head of cattle…” “Myfather is a state senator…” And so on. 

Suddenly Dr. Gatuso realized it was his turn, and every eye in the group was on him. “Oh, right,” he began, “Well, my Father is the Owner and Creator of the universe, and furthermore, my older Brother is the King!”

I love that attitude.

Sure, the world will roll their eyes and may even get a little touchy about such boldness.

But it’s the truth, brethren. It’s who we are.

Or maybe you don’t realize this is so?

Listen to Peter

Who was Peter? An unschooled fisherman, for crying out loud! But here he was, standing before the elite religious intellectuals of the day, telling them that Jesus, not their traditions and laws, was the way to salvation, the truth, the life, the glory of God. And they marveled at him, because, you see, Peter had been with Jesus, and he knew whereof he spoke (Acts 4:13).

So when Peter tells us who we are, no matter what the world says, or no matter what we might think, we do well to listen to him. 

We are the heirs of the King. We are the treasured possession of the Lord God Almighty. We are the truth proclaimers. We are the light, salt, leaven, and glory of the world.

If we could only learn to listen to Peter – and to Jesus, Paul, the prophets, and all the other contributors to the Word of God – we might begin to live up to who we really are in ways that will startle and surprise our unbelieving friends.