So, I’m thinking it is wired into man to want to be part of something . . . to be identified with something. Around us it finds it’s manifestation in everything from bumper stickers to brand name clothes . . . from baseball caps to sports team jerseys . . . from the flag of our country hanging outside our door to the flag of our football team hanging outside our door . . . from colored wristbands to logo’d up t-shirts . . . all of it, a way of identifying with something. And as I continue reading in 1Peter . . . a letter to a people whose experience I have little connection with . . . I identify with them . . . not in their suffering so much . . . but in their calling and their identity in Christ . . .

“But you are a CHOSEN GENERATION, a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, a HOLY NATION, His own SPECIAL PEOPLE that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now THE PEOPLE OF GOD, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as SOJOURNERS and PILGRIMS, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul . . . as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as BONDSERVANTS OF GOD.” (1Peter 2:9-11, 16)

I look at that list of capitalized words . . . that catalog of descriptors . . . that inventory of “tags” . . . and I think any one of them would make a great logo on a t-shirt or a baseball cap. Each of them, for the believer, would be a badge of honor to wear . . . a life’s mission statement to try and live up to. Talk about identifying with something . . . talk about being part of something bigger than yourself.

And while they all really grab me, one kind of stands out above the rest this morning. It probably isn’t the one that lends itself to the most creative t-shirt design or most witty tag line . . . but it so describes where my identify lies . . . it so clearly states the “something” that I am part of . . . I was not a people, but now I am THE PEOPLE OF GOD.

How’s that for an identity? A people-group of God’s own choosing and creating and re-creating. Common ancestry . . . born of God through the Spirit. Common language . . . the Word of God. Common anthem . . . the song of the redeemed. Common currency . . . treasure in heaven. Common mission statement . . . live for glory of God. Part of a people that transcends any earth-defined culture . . . brothers and sisters scattered throughout the world all claiming the same identity . . . the people of God. David wrote, “I am a companion of all who fear You, and of those who keep Your precepts.” (Ps. 119:63)

The People of God. It’s an exclusive club . . . but it’s open to all who would enter. It’s free to join, the price already having been paid in full . . . but membership will cost you your life. There’s a rewards program . . . investment in it now, pays huge dividends in the future — an eternal future. But there’s no boasting in this identity, save for boasting in the cross . . . no place for pride or self-promotion for all members are but sinners saved by grace.

Oh, what privilege to be counted as the people of God.

And it’s not a t-shirt or ball cap or rubber band or bumper sticker that identifies and seals us. No, it’s the living Spirit of God which has been given to us as a seal of His ownership . . . an indicator of our authenticity as His people . . . a deposit guaranteeing that the best is yet to come (Eph. 1:14). That’s the “God wear” that I am to put on . . . that’s the evidence I am to display . . . the living Spirit of God showing forth . . . identifying me as part of the people.

Oh, that it would be more than just an identity . . . that it would be reality . . . by His grace . . . through His Spirit . . . and for His glory . . . amen?