We are addressed/identified as… exiles of the Dispersion! We are to think of ourselves (and we are to be regarded) as sojourners …like Hadassah (a.k.a. Esther), Daniel (a.k.a. Belteshazzar), Hananiah (a.k.a. Shadrach), Mishael (a.k.a. Meshach), and Azariah (a.k.a. Abednego). And we are ALL ABOUT/FOR —> obedience to Jesus Christ and ALL ABOUT/FOR —> sprinkling with Jesus’ blood!

God has caused us to be something…

…God has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!!!

And we are being guarded! Guarded HOW?…

—> Being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (for more details on HOW faith GUARDS us – see Hebrews chapter 10-12).

And talking about FAITH …Though we have never seen Jesus, we love him. And though we do not now see Jesus, we believe in Him and we rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. …WE REJOICE WITH JOY THAT IS INEXPRESSIBLE AND FILLED WITH GLORY! …Joy that is INEXPRESSIBLE! …We with REJOICE WITH JOY! We don’t just have joy, we rejoice WITH joy! But is an inexpressible joy. And, AND – this JOY that we have because of our by faith LOVE for Jesus is something that ANGELS ARE OBSESSED WITH! Like how you scroll for hours (longing to look at your phone), and like how you binge watch Stranger Things, or The Summer I Turned Pretty, or College Football, etc. …sort of like that – that’s how THE ANGELS look into the story Jesus’ sufferings and subsequent glories!

But what about THE FUTILE WAYS? You know, all the various and sundry FUTILE WAYS?! …Well, you were RANSOMED from the futile ways. RANSOMED! (because of the sprinkled blood of Jesus that we observed at the end of the first paragraph of this blog post).

And being RANSOMED from the FUTILE WAYS God has purified our souls – via our obedience to the truth – for a sincere brotherly love! #Free FROM futile ways …Free TO love in brotherly fashion!

Free TO put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.

FREE to be MATURE. Free to partake of the REAL MEATY emphasis, and really really really good, high level, most wise and most crème de la crème teaching, and the most excellent theology …which is to be like newborn infants, longing for the pure spiritual milk, that by it we may grow up into salvation — if indeed we have tasted that the Lord is good!

Now some of you are thinking, “Wait a minute… are you saying that Meaty MATURE Christian is someone who is like a newborn infant, longing for the pure spiritual milk; and by that childlikeness [and milk longingness] they are the ones who GROW the most & the best?” YUP! That’s right. This is WHY Jesus of Nazareth emphasized (with His apostolic leadership team, while they were fiercely debating what true MEATY, MATURE, GREATNESS was) that true greatness was CHILDLIKENESS!

And – honestly – this makes some people want to reject Jesus of Nazareth. And that actually makes a lot of sense because Jesus of Nazareth is —> a living stone rejected by men (a stone of stumbling,
    and a rock of offense) but in the sight of God chosen and precious.

And we are like living stones, and we are being built up as a spiritual house!

And we are God’s house (see the CS Lewis quote about the house renovation and how God owns and personally occupies the house).

And speaking of God OWNING us …I should probably point out that we are a people for God’s own possession! YES – God owns you! You are God’s property/treasured possession!

Now let’s just take a brief moment to remind ourselves that we are sojourners and exiles … and the treasured possession of God – currently existing in this dark/futile world which is full of hostility and a strong tendency to reject God’s house of cornerstone and living stones!

Now let’s talk about the WILL OF GOD…

This is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. *Think of the Count of Monte Cristo, or Andy Dufresne, or Mary Poppins, or Willy Wonka. Think about how these characters did good and thereby put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. And live as people who are free!!!

And be mesmerized by the fact that when Jesus was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly.

And remember (if you’re actually obsessed with Jesus) then you WERE straying like sheep, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

That’s all my observations for now (that takes us to the end of chapter 2). We will resume our observations at a future date and time.