Strangers

Taking a break from devotion in Proverbs for awhile and getting back to the New Testament I thought it would be good to have a look at the letters God had inspired Peter to write. DEVOTION 1 PETER STRANGERS 1 Peter 1:1-2 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: NIV It might be a mistake to consider this as believers being elected by God, or special people being selected and others not. If this is viewed in the context of history it would be clear Peter is writing to all the Jews, who are indeed His chosen people, who were scattered throughout much of the known world because of the persecution of those Jews who had become believers that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. Peter was also including those gentiles who had become believers in those areas as well. It is well for all believers in Christ to consider themselves as strangers in the world, aliens, foreigners, not having a citizenship here, but in the Kingdom of God. There is another way I see this in the sense of the Greek word Ekelklois stands without punctuation directly between Christ and strangers. Could it be that Peter is simply saying “ Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ elect” meaning either Peter was chosen or that Jesus is Elect, special as this same word was used for angels. In either case is it well to know that God would have us all live as strangers here, not being a partaker in the customs of this world. If we were sent to a different country in the world to live as a representative or ambassador of our sovereign, our leader, we would be expected to remain faithful to the citizenship of our country, our cultural, our ways and not become as the natives of that foreign land. This is also true in the case of us believers and this world. How many of the ideas, the concepts of this world have believers adopted? Have we bought into the beliefs of unbelievers, accepting their ways as ours, justifying them in some manner? Perhaps this idea of being a stranger implies that we are not known by those in the world. This would mean we are not like them, not in the sense of values, morals, likes, dislikes, behaviors, or for that matter even in looks. We have a countenance which reflexes our Lord Jesus Christ which is surely missing in those of this world. We must live according to the standard of the Kingdom in which our citizenship lies. Strangers.