Be Your Own Priest

1 Peter 2:5, “you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

“Be your own priest…” doesn’t that sound like the lead in to a late night infomercial? Can you hear the announcer? For three easy payments of $99.95 plus shipping and handling you too can be your own priest… all from the comfort of home.

On a serious note, this is a notion that has been hanging with me for days. As I walk through life growing in Christ and His revelation inside me I see Solomon’s wisdom in that all is futility. Or, specifically, he said; all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 1:1) Somehow everything we do and say that is not in absolute obedience to the Father is worthless as it has been contaminated with man’s wisdom and desires. If I quote a scripture from my head for a person’s need without consideration of the Father’s will; then it is worthless even though it was once a thought of God. In this case it is my thinking and not God’s thought in the moment. And so all effort runs this risk of being no spiritual benefit.

And if all effort risks being of no spiritual benefit, then why risk effort at all?

Follow me here as many of the recent blogs are coming together in one larger lesson.

Some in life experience hardship. In this hardship is presented an opportunity to surrender and trust in God. The opportunity to be tested, and to be shaped are presented. Likewise the person who in life experiences comfort is presented with the very same opportunities. To one life comes up heads, to the other life comes up tails… all for the same purpose. It is God who chooses in His infinite love which is best for us in the moment. It is the Lord that giveth and taketh away. It was the same God who feed the five thousand that also allowed the storm on the sea. And as a result of this realization that there is no good apart from God, and there is no bad from a God Who always acts in Love, then there is an overwhelming despair for us and our efforts. If God is in control, and our obedience to what we think He wants us to do is no more likely to change life’s circumstance than doing nothing at all, then what is the point?

The point is that all these attempts to influence something far outside of our control are designed to lead us to the one who is in control. Likewise, the realization that “all is vanity” similarly causes the spiritually minded to understand that they have nothing to offer another in the way of spirituality. My lessons, though they can be an inspiration, are not the answers to your problems. Therefore my role as a minister is what?

My role is to encourage you to be a minister. Not to be a minister to someone else, but to BE YOUR OWN PRIEST.

Life is complex when attempting to live it horizontally… bouncing between emotion, intellectual understanding, peer influence, and the general battle with Satan & sin. Conversely life is simple when living focused on Jesus and denying all those other things to be faith minded, staring to heaven and not moving without hearing His voice, or seeing His act. To get there we have to become a Priest and access the holy of holies. We have to individually reach out to and become aware of Christ inside us. This is my call. This is your call. To be a Priest… your own priest practicing a living, breathing relationship with Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Father.