Do you ever feel as a Christian that you are like an “alien” in this current world?
Everyone seems to be interested in different things to you, setting different priorities with different agendas.
Do you just feel so out of it sometimes?
Well, that is not a bad thing really; we are told we are in this world but not of this world.
Reading the start of 1 Peter this morning I thought it a rather weird greeting to call the brothers and sisters strangers.
The word used is parepidemos, and means an alien, a resident foreigner or someone living in a strange country.
This makes sense to me now, being a citizen of Heaven I am actually living in a foreign country at the moment!
Because of our position in Christ we are all citizens of Heaven and this earth really is a foreign land, and we are only living here for a short period.
I’m sure if I went to live in Poland or Algeria or Vietnam I would feel like a stranger there, with the different values and cultures of those countries compared to Scotland.
As a Christian we hold different values and customs from other people here on earth, even in our “home” countries, so it should be no surprise that we do not fit in.
Actually we should be a little concerned if we do feel at home on this earth!
So my strange friends keep up your strange ways and keep doing strange things, like loving your enemies, forgiving others and showing compassion to the “normal” people of this earth.
Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that as a gift of grace through faith in Jesus Christ I am a citizen of Heaven”.
1 Peter 1 v 1…..Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia
Heilan Word Ministries 