"9 But you are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
10 Once you were “no people”
but now you are God’s people;
you “had not received mercy”
but now you have received mercy.
11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and sojourners* to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against the soul.
12 Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles, so that if they speak of you as evildoers, they may observe your good works and glorify God on the day of visitation."
In the midst of this world, men of God are called to stand as a sign and an example of what it means to live holy lives. We are called to recognise that Christian life is not something we choose for ourselves, but that we are chosen by God to live this life. We see around us men and women living degraded lives, caught up in the false idols that lead them into lives of sexual and alcoholic addiction, among many other destructive behaviors. God calls us away from these human miseries and into lives in which we build faithful and lasting relationships, and in which interpersonal love is real.
Read my archive article on The Importance of Your Own Thoughts:
