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1 Peter 2:10
10 Which [ho] in time past [pote] were not [ou] a people [laos], but [de] are now [nun] the people [laos] of God [theos]: which [ho] had [eleeo] not [ou] obtained mercy [eleeo], but [de] now [nun] have obtained mercy [eleeo]. KJV-Interlinear
10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. NASB
Peter is drawing his remarks from Hosea.
Hos. 1:10
10 Yet the number of the sons of Israel Will be like the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered; And it will come about that, in the place Where it is said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ It will be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’ NASB
Hos. 2:23
23 ‘And I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, And I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they will say, 'Thou art my God!'‘ NASB
There always comes a time in life when you should look at life and become grateful for all that you are and all that you have. Whether you have a little or a lot, whether you are somebody or nobody, is irrelevant.
In the spiritual realm, which is the only truth and reality that exists, there are only two types of people – believers and unbelievers.
Unbelievers have no value whatsoever. Like garbage tossed out, buried, burned, or otherwise discarded as useless and of which not even the bums of the street are interested, so too, unbelievers are useless and worthless.
Their destiny is the Lake of Fire, and to that end, they have no value.
Believers, on the other hand, have enjoyed the highest value that can exist. They are the family of God, and heirs to the new universe and heaven to come.
And so Peter here teaches us, that we were once all unbelievers, and without value. But now as believers in Christ, we possess infinite value. And by the way, becoming a believer is available to everyone. No one is excluded, except by their own refusal to believe in Christ. Therefore, gratitude is in order.
Prior to our faith, we were the recipients of no mercy, and that means the mercy of Salvation.
On this earth, everyone participates in common grace, which makes this planet habitable for humanity, but as for mercy, that, is reserved for believers only. And we can add one more thing to this concept, as we studied in James recently, all believers are recipients of spiritual grace, but mature believers become recipients for greater grace. The grace of the mature spiritual life.
As for unbelievers, they participate in the common grace principles of life, but only because those principles were made available specifically for believers. Unbelievers only receive grace because they happen to live concurrently with believers. We call that grace by association.
The Tribulation will be an excellent example of the grace that unbelievers will receive, when most believers are gone. Namely, they will almost exterminate humanity.
But anyway, your life was once a worthless life. You had no future, no value, nothing. But, once you believed in Christ, all of that changed dramatically. As a believer in Christ, your value and your blessings increased infinitely, as compared to an unbeliever. And, as a mature believer, your value and your blessings will increase infinitely again.
So, no matter what your circumstances, you have something to be grateful to God for. No matter what your circumstances, worldly circumstances that is, you have nothing. Only in doctrine do you become a valuable person with meaning and purpose.
In every other aspect of life (apart from doctrine), no matter how hard you try, you will never find meaning or purpose for yourself. Never!
