“He’s Royalty!” (1 Peter 2:9 )

I recently had the privilege to attend the Sickle Cell Disease Foundation of California. The event was to honor my friend and colleague, a physician who discovered a treatment for sickle cell anemia. When I arrived, he was surrounded by other physicians and scientists who helped him bring his discovery to recent FDA approval. One the of men was unfamiliar to me and I was introduced to him by my colleague. After the perfunctory exchanges, my colleague proclaimed, “He’s royalty!”

I was intrigued. “Which country are you from?”

“Andorra.” He paused, anticipating the next question he undoubtedly answered thousands of times.

“And where is Andorra?”

He happily obliged and delivered an overview of his country-an explanation that left me wanting to learn more. The kingdom of Andorra. It sounded like a fairy tale kingdom, something out of a Disney movie. I researched it the next morning and discovered its history goes back to the fall of the Roman empire. It is landlocked, located in the Pyrenees mountains, between the borders of France and Spain. Once a kingdom, it is now governed as a co-principality between the President of France and the Bishop of Urgell (Catalonia, Spain). No matter that I did not know much about his heritage, I was absorbed by the experience of me, a commoner, conversing with royalty!

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

1 Peter 2:9 (ESV)

In this passage, the Apostle Peter shared his awe of being a child of God as a believer in Jesus Christ, declaring all believers to be a royal priesthood, chosen and set apart by God for salvation.

The physician colleague who discovered the treatment for sickle cell anemia is a Christian brother in the Lord and one of my closest friends. The other man was royalty through his birthright. As I stood between these two men, I was struck by the contrast-a man of royal descent and a man of a royal priesthood.

I am a commoner but royalty be adoption. Anyone who confesses and repents of their sins and accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior can also become royalty. All believers in Jesus Christ are part of a royal priesthood, set apart by God for eternal salvation!

All praise the eternal and immortal King!

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.