Advent Day 12: 1 Peter 2:4-9

Read 1 Peter 2:4-9.

Ponder 1 Peter 2:4-9

• How is life with Christ described in this passage? 

• What imagery or ideas are used to describe life without Christ? 

• Consider the list of who believers are in verse 9. Which of those descriptors resounds most with you? Why?

• Peter describes Christians using Old Testament imagery: chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people set aside for his possession. Why was it important that Peter would use imagery usually reserved for the Jews to describe all believers? 

• Focusing on verse 9, what is the purpose God has called us to as believers? 

• What would it mean for you “to proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” today? 

• How has God called you out of darkness and into light? 

Meditate on 1 Peter 2:4-9

Twinkling lights on trees.

Fantastic outdoor light displays.

Flickering candles lit each Sunday to mark the progression through the Advent season. 

Advent is a season of light—and if you’ve been reading through this reading plan, you know there’s good reason for that. At Christmas, we celebrate Jesus’ birth (his Advent or first coming), and we look forward to his Second Coming. We sing joyous songs about the Baby’s birth because we know that at that certain point in history, God was unveiling the reality of his redemption plan. The prophecies and the promises had been fulfilled. 

The Savior—the Messiah—had come, and, through his life, death and resurrection, he would show us the way out of darkness and into God’s marvelous light. 

When we were sinners, we couldn't find our way out of that life on our own. It’s only through Jesus and what he has already done for us that we can become the chosen people, royal priests, holy nation and a people of God’s own possession Peter described in 1 Peter 2:9. Only when we trust Jesus for salvation can we emerge from the darkness, blinking our eyes and trying to focus in the bright light of God’s love and glory. 

We who have been called from darkness to light also have a purpose or a job to do: proclaim God’s praises to a dark world. We do that through the way we live our lives, to what our actions, words and budgets declare is most important to us. We do it through our worship and telling our stories of how he has been at work in our lives, lighting flickering candles of faith in the darkest corners of our lives, dispelling the lies we believe as truth and allowing the Spirit to shape us to become more and more into the image of Christ.

Whenever we push back the dark ugliness of sin and bring beauty, light and goodness into the world—whether that’s through a song, a kind act, a patient attitude or a moment of faithfulness, we are fulfilling his purpose for our lives. 

Advent is a season of light, but as believers, we are people of light. Rather than focusing on all the things that are wrong in our world, let’s push back the darkness by the beauty of our redeemed lives. This Christmas and all throughout the year, live as children of light.