strangers – Moment to Moment (Bible blog)

Because we don’t belong here

Having lived in Japan for 20 years, I sometimes feel like a man without a country. Of course I am American, but having been out of country so long, I am totally out of touch with the culture there and how things have changed over the years.

On the other hand, even having been in Japan so long, I am in many ways still an outsider. Or as we say in Japanese, a “gaijin.”

But maybe that’s not such a bad thing, because I don’t belong to this world. Not really. And neither do you if you’re a Christian. Christ has purchased us at a great price, not with silver or gold, but with his own blood. (1 Peter 1:18-19)

And he bought us to be his own people.

Like I said before, one of the key words in I Peter is “exiles” or “strangers.” We don’t belong here. And Peter goes into great detail as to the implications of this.

He says,

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:13-16)

In short, because we are exiles and strangers, prepare yourself for the things that are to come.

There will be hardships and even persecution for following Christ. But don’t falter because of that. Don’t look back longingly on your old life. Rather, set your hope on the grace you will receive when Christ comes back.

What grace? The grace of eternal life. Of things that will never perish, spoil, or fade, kept in heaven for you. (1:4)

And because of that hope we have, don’t conform yourself to the evil desires that would destroy you; conform yourself to God. Make it your goal to become more like him. To be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.

Our lives are so often broken because of sin. And by clinging to sin, our lives become even more broken. But when we let go of our sin and of doing things our way, and when we turn to God, doing things his way, our lives are made whole and complete.

And on the day of judgment, we will be rewarded.

So as Peter writes,

Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. (1 Peter 1:17)

What does that mean to live as strangers here?

It means to live each day in faith, hope, and love. Faith and hope that God will do all that he has promised (1:21). And loving each other as he commanded us. (1:22)

It means to remember that the life that we have is something eternal. Life here on earth is short, but it is only preparation for what is to come after death. (1:23-25)

It means to get rid of the poisons that we drink in each day, poisons that the people of this world drink in daily, the poisons of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. (2:1)

These poisons and other sinful desires wage war against our souls and will destroy us if we continue to drink them in. (2:11)

Instead, we are to drink in the milk of God’s Word so that we can grow as his children. (2:2)

Most of all, it means to come to the One that this world has rejected.

To come to Jesus as people who belong to his house.

To be a part of that spiritual house he is building.

To be his priests, offering spiritual sacrifices to God in our speech, in our actions, in our lives. (2:4-8)

And as we do, we will shine his light to a world trapped in darkness. (2:9, 12)

So remember who you are.

You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

Aliens and Strangers

In Japan, I’m considered to have come from another planet. I can prove it. I have my own “alien registration card.”

I heard that not long ago, when people came into a Japanese airport, when passing through immigration, there was a line for Japanese and one for “aliens.”

They’ve since changed that to “foreigners,” but according to my card I’m still an “alien.”

Anyway, that’s what Abraham was in the land of Canaan. He was in the place God had led him to, and God had promised to give that land to his descendants as an inheritance.

But that time had not come yet. And so when Abraham’s wife Sarah died, he had no place to bury her, and he had to buy land in which to bury her.

When he went to the Hittites, he said, “I am an alien and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.” (verse 4). And they kindly allowed him to buy some property.

Abraham died and was buried there too, never actually having received the promise, but waiting in hope for that day to come. In Hebrews 11, it says,

By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.

For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God…

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.

And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.

People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.

If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:9–16)

Shortly after I moved to Japan, my brother moved to the Big Island of Hawaii. My sister and her family followed, and then my parents eventually moved there as well. Now when I go back to Oahu, I have no home. It’s kind of sad.

When I visit my old neighborhood and pass by my old house, someone else lives there, and the place looks different now. It’s not my home anymore.

But then again, it never was. This world is just a place we’re visiting for a short time. We’re aliens and strangers in a land where we don’t truly belong. Instead, our true home awaits for us in heaven.

So the question is where is your heart? Is it here on this earth? Are your thoughts consumed only with life here? Or is your true home where your heart is?

Sometimes people think that if you’re too heavenly-minded, you’re no earthly good. But as C.S. Lewis put it,

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next.

The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven.

It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. (Mere Christianity — Essay on Hope)

Lewis is right. When our hearts are set on heaven, all our priorities fall into place. When our hearts are set on earth, that’s when our priorities and our lives become a mess.

Where is your heart? Are your priorities in this life right?

As the old Petra song says,

We are envoys, we must tarry
With this message we must carry

There’s so much to do before we leave
With so many more who may believe

Our mission here can never fail
And the gates of hell will not prevail

We are strangers; we are aliens
We are not of this world.