while today

Do you take your role as a priest of God seriously?  Perhaps you didn’t realize that if you are in Christ, you are a priest of the Most High God.  Or perhaps if you did realize it, you’re not sure what it all means, practically speaking.

The New Testament makes it clear that each member of the body of Christ is a priest of God.  The apostle Peter writes, “… 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.” (1 Peter 2:5 NASB95) He also says a few verses later, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light… ” (1 Peter 2:9 NASB95)

We can look to the Old Testament to understand what it means to be a priest.  What did God expect of His priesthood?  What kind of people were they to be?  We get a good picture of what God expected of them in Malachi chapter two.  God was not pleased with His priests at that time, and He sent them a message through the prophet to teach them what they ought to be and how they should live. 

First, a priest must honor and revere God.  This awe for God drives everything else that we do as priests. God speaks of the priesthood He established with Levi and says, “My covenant with Him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.” (Malachi 2:5 NASB95).

Second, a priest must strive to live a life of righteousness.  Speaking of Levi, God says, “…unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness…” (Malachi 2:6 NASB95) As priests of God, we must be careful how we speak and how we walk.

Finally, a priest must be a keeper and a messenger of sacred knowledge.  “True instruction was in his mouth… he turned many back from iniquity… for the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 2:6-7 NASB95) How will men come to know God unless we, as priests of God, learn of Him and share our knowledge of Him with others?  Priests of God should be the kind of people that others come to for instruction in the way of the Lord. 

May God help each one of us to take seriously our role as priests.   

—Scott Colvin