According to 1 Peter 2, those who have been baptized into Christ are now a royal priesthood; Christians are God’s own special people, set apart for the holy purposes of our Maker. If you are a Christian, you don’t have to go through any kind of ordained priest to gain access to the Father; instead, you are the priest. You get to make petitions before the throne of God yourself, because our High Priest intercedes for us. No more do we rely on imperfect, ephod-wearing men to sprinkle blood on our behalf. Instead, God’s Son shed His blood so that we could enter into a relationship with both Father and Son, regularly coming before them ourselves, offering our own spiritual sacrifices.

But in the Old Testament, under the Old Law, that wasn’t the case. There were still specially ordained priests of the tribe of Levi who had the awesome task of being the go between for the people and God. In 1 Samuel, we are introduced to two of those priests: Eli’s sons Hophni and Phinehas. They are to be sanctified for the purposes of God, and yet, they have defiled His commands and gone completely against what He’s commanded them.

Ultimately, because of their misdeeds, God punishes them and their father’s household. As God reveals these future events to their father, Eli, He says this:

Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever (1 Samuel 2:35).

The reason this verse struck me wasn’t because of the punishment given to Eli and his sons. Instead, it made me think of the priesthood I belong to. God spelled out exactly what a faithful priest is: one who does what is according to God’s heart and God’s mind.

My question is, are you a faithful priest? Am I a faithful priest?

Faithful priests are the ones who do what is according to God. Not their own desires, not what they think will appeal to their culture. A faithful priest doesn’t choose his/her own ideas over God’s law; instead, a faithful priest chooses to only act on what God has said.

After Peter tells us that we are the new priesthood of God (1 Peter 2:9), he goes on to tell us how to act. We are to proclaim the praises of God (v.9), abstain from fleshly lusts (v. 11), have honorable conduct that produces good works (v. 12), submit to the government (v.13), and “honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king (v 14).” In verses 18-25 he goes on to command our submission and meekness, giving Christ as the chief example of both.

Faithful priests faithfully serve their God and not themselves, as Hophni and Phinehas were doing. Faithful priests put their God’s will above their own. Faithful priests follow all of the commands of God, not bending the rules to serve their own desires. A faithful priest does all that God commands, not only the things that appeal to them. They adhere closely to God’s rules and regulations, not letting culture dictate what is acceptable.

So, are you a faithful priest? Am I a faithful priest? It is my prayer that each of us will be; that we will all do according to God’s heart and mind instead of our own.