This passage is so filled with truth that it’s hard to gather it into a short devotional. Peter uses wording from Exodus 19:5\u20136, where God told the children of Israel, “if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” But in this New Testament book, written to a primarily Gentile audience, Peter applies it to those “who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” Peter is making it clear that Gentile believers are also God’s chosen race during this age\u2014the time of the Gentiles. We as believers, Jew or Gentile, enjoy a special relationship with God. We are “His own special people.” And as such, we have the great honor of praising Him here on earth and on into eternity. We have been delivered from a spiritual darkness of ignorance, error, sin, and misery; and now, though His mercy given to us, we walk in His marvelous light. Wow!<\/p>\n
Dr. Roy J. Plunkett invented Teflon, the coating found on nonstick pans, somewhat by chance in 1938. According to the “History of Teflon,” the material turned out to “be inert to virtually all chemicals” and “the most slippery material in existence.”1<\/small><\/sup> Teflon is so slippery that virtually nothing sticks to it or is absorbed by it. Perhaps it is a stretch, but it seems that Teflon could be seen as an illustration of the Holy Spirit’s effect on sin in a believer’s life. Yes, certainly we can and do occasionally fall into sin, but His presence and control over our lives gives us a stick-free surface. Through humble repentance we can be kept free from contamination. Is that something we somehow earned? No. Peter says we are the people of God who “now have obtained mercy.”<\/p>\n