What does it mean to be an alien or a stranger on the earth? 1 peter 2:11 says "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul." When one travels to another country, one will stand out in looks, mannerisms, language, tone, likes and dislikes, habits, clothes, pretty much everything depending on which country one visits. As Christians, we are required to stand out just as much when we are among non Christians. We will talk, dress, look, like, and act differently to those around us. This is not to condemn but more to demonstrate, we demonstrate Gods way of life and also reflect God's love and purpose through our lives.
When we stand out, either by Godliness or merely international travel, we will be noticed, commented on and potentially even abused for being different.
It is interesting to note that in a way we are aliens in our own bodies, needing to fight against sinful desires that make war on our souls.
We should therefore, while being aliens in our bodies and in the world, expect attacks from others and from sinful desires and constantly remember to turn to God help us out.
I am not good at this, I try on my own for ridiculous lengths of time until Gods pulls me back, but only through Gods strength can we hope to not be sucked back into the world.
It is interesting that somebody receiving a racist comment made me think of this today
No comments:
Post a Comment