One thing I love about God’s Word is how it comes alive to me, no matter what season I’m in on my walk with Jesus.

The last couple of weeks, I have been working on a book called The Love Your Life Project: 40 Days to Prioritize Your Passions, Cultivate Productive Habits, and Refuel With Times of Rest by Karen Ehman and Ruth Schwenk. I highly recommend it.

As I was reading the Scriptures for the day, one truth really stood out to me. This truth was nothing new to me, and I have even written about it in my book, Created to Relate: Living Beyond Religion, but I had not seen it in the Word quite the way I did before.

1 Peter 2:9-10 says, But you a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you were once not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

As I read and reread this scripture and dug into a few more, I noticed something. God first told them who they are in Him. A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession belonging to Him. We were called out of the darkness into His incredible light. I rested there for a little while.

I took time to thank Him for who He has created me to be. All the amazing things He shared in the Scripture above, as well as the unique and personal qualities He has given me personally.

Do we really know and believe who we are in Christ and what we have been given?

I looked up the cross-references, and there were so many—just for these two scriptures alone. There are so many places in the Bible that tell us who God has created us to be. I encourage you to take a few moments each day to look up even one scripture and let it remind you of who you are in Him.

“The next part of this passage is especially important—just two small words, yet full of power and meaning.”

SO THAT

These two words bridge the gap between the first and last parts of this scripture. These two words say the same thing to me as “for the purpose of.” He created us this way so that “we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of the darkness into His marvelous light.” Other versions say, “that you may declare the praises of Him,” and “as a result, you can show others the goodness of God.”

The second part of this verse gave us our purpose. He created us for this purpose of proclaiming the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into the light, to declare the praises of Him, and to show others the goodness of God.

How He does that through each of us looks different—and it can shift as our seasons change.

When I went down to the commentary part of my Life Application Bible study, it said this: “People often have their self-concept based on their accomplishments, but our relationship with Christ is far more important than our jobs, successes, wealth, or knowledge. We are chosen by God as His very own, and we have been called to represent Him to others. Remember that your value comes from being one of God’s children, not from what you can achieve. You have worth because of what God does, not because of what you do.”

Too often, we look at what we do or don’t do and attach it to our value and worth. We look to what we do to define who we are, and that is the opposite of what God does.

I love how God lines it up so well in 1 Peter 2:9-10. He tells us who we are and then gives our purpose next. Our purpose and what we do come out of who He has created us to be, and not the other way around.

This truth is extremely freeing to me, and it blesses my heart that my Heavenly Father has created me with such purpose and sees me the way He does.

I pray that as you look at this scripture, you will see it a little differently. No matter what the world, the culture, the enemy, or any person says, you are valuable because God has created you. Rest in that today, and dig into God’s Word to truly understand who you are to Him and in Him.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for the way you have created us to be a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, belonging to You! May all we do and say proclaim Your excellencies, declare Your praises, and show Your goodness. Thank You for who You are, who we are, and what we get to do with You in this life. May You be glorified through us. In Jesus’ Name! Amen!