1 Peter 2:5 (VOICE) Like living stones, let yourselves be assembled into a spiritual house, a holy order of priests who offer up spiritual sacrifices that will be acceptable to God through Jesus the Anointed.
Beloved, I know that cultivating harmony comes at a cost. It requires laying down your pride and walking in humility. It means setting aside your agenda and being patient. It means resisting the urge for frustration or anger and instead being long-suffering and kind.
Laying down your fleshly responses in favor of ones that please Me are sacrifices I take note of. They are pleasing to Me. They show your willingness to align with My priorities instead of your own, and that is beautiful to Me. Offerings such as these are sweet spiritual sacrifices, and they are wholly pleasing to Me.
1 Peter 2:4-5, 9 (VOICE) Come to Him—the living stone—who was rejected by people but accepted by God as chosen and precious. Like living stones, let yourselves be assembled into a spiritual house, a holy order of priests who offer up spiritual sacrifices that will be acceptable to God through Jesus the Anointed. But you are a chosen people, set aside to be a royal order of priests, a holy nation, God’s own; so that you may proclaim the wondrous acts of the One who called you out of inky darkness into shimmering light.