THE AUDIENCE OF ONE
Play Audio
If you prefer listening to today’s Bible guide reading, play this audio file.
If the audio bar is not appearing, click here to play the audio.
Opening Prayer
Thank you, Jesus, for the grace and mercy you offer. Help me so that all I am testifies to who you are.
Read 1 PETER 2:4–10
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
The Living Stone and a Chosen People
4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
8 and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Reflect
‘And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.’1
God’s larger plans and objectives may sometimes escape us, but they are presented plainly in this passage. Here, Peter points to Jesus’ life as the foundation of our own life. The language of ‘stones’ may be confusing to us in the twenty-first century, but the meaning is plain: God is doing something long-lasting, just as stones in a house last for centuries. Travelers to Rome tell us that the Colosseum still stands, more than twenty centuries after its construction. It is made largely of stone. In the same way, our lives are enduring in God’s economy.
Our identity is based on how God sees us. Verse 9 is uncompromising: we are ‘a chosen people’ and ‘God’s special possession.’ Meditating on and internalizing this phrase would save us a great deal of heartache. The Bible tells us that ‘Fear of man will prove to be a snare,’2 which means that placing our faith or identity in how other people view us is deceptive. Believers are wise if they remind themselves that they are not only chosen by God but are valued deeply by him. Os Guinness calls us to live for the ‘audience of One.’3
A life of purpose depends on knowing not only what we are here for but also whom we are here for. This might sound abstract, but Peter, as a fisherman-cum-apostle, is communicating this to us. Do I value myself as God sees me? Do I view myself as part of a ‘royal priesthood’ (v. 9)? The Bible is countercultural in far more positive ways than many of us would dare to imagine. Let’s see ourselves in the light of Genesis 1:26, 27 (bearing the divine image) as well as 1 Peter 2:9.
Apply
What do you believe is your sense of purpose? Considering today’s passage, how lasting will what you build be compared to what God has designed you to be?
Closing prayer
Lord, you made yourself nothing for my sake. Please help me to reflect your humility in all that I do.
1 2 Corinthians 3:18. 2 Prov 29:25. 3 Os Guinness, The Call (Thomas Nelson, 1998), 68.
Book and Author Intros
Extras
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2025 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.