Devotion Booklets for Seasons of the Church Year Advent-Christmas Devotional - 2017 - single page | Page 26

Peace for All Believers
Thursday, December 21st
1 Peter 2:4-5
Eight years.
Eight long, hard, difficult years. Are you kidding me? That’s what it takes to be a Pastor? Do I really want to
take a large portion of my life and dedicate it to studying and preparing for a calling that takes me to an
unknown place, an unknown people, and a potentially far-away place to shepherd a flock of God’s
people?
The decision was not easy, nor was the path, but it was one of the greatest decisions that I’ve made. Why?
Because God has now called me to serve a world in desperate need of preaching and teaching the
message of Christ-crucified. And for me, there has been no greater joy in life.
I’ve had the opportunity to see tears flowing out of the eyes of hurting Christians who are reminded that
they are children of the heavenly Father. I’ve sat with the downtrodden as they have been confined to a
hospital bed. I've baptized young and old, assuring them that their souls have been washed clean in the
blood of the lamb. There was peace for the broken.
You see, being a pastor really comes down to two things: 1) loving God, and 2) loving people.
Do you realize that God called you to a priesthood as well? A famous preacher put it really well when he
said, "I preach at least 400 times a week. Though I preach only once on Sunday, my 400 members go out
into the byways of life, into the shops and offices, and multiply my message 400 times." By faith in Jesus
they belonged to the priesthood of all believers. And how true that is!
Do you think that you and I are worthy of this priesthood, though? Absolutely not! Because of sin,
everyone deserves nothing but God's anger and eternal punishment. The priesthood that you and I are
called to was made possible only by Jesus. As the great High Priest and the Living stone, he made one
sacrifice for the sins of the world. He gave himself, and no more sacrifice for sin is needed.
This stone is precious, Peter tells us! The precious stone of Jesus, more precious that rubies, was hand-
picked from eternity. God had chosen his one and only Son to save fallen mankind from sin, death and
Satan. Praise God that he has made us who we are… "We are living stones being built into a spiritual
house, to be a holy priesthood." There is peace, Christians! And it's only through Christ. Amen.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me never to forget that I belong to the priesthood of all believers. When