Strangers

DEVOTION 1 PETER STRANGERS 1 Peter 1:17-21 17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. NIV Is it not a wonderful thing to have a Father who does not treat one person any better and any worse than any other person? It is surely not like that here in the world of gods and men. Some men have a god who demands the death of those who do not worship him as they do. Some gods are nothing more than figures composed of various metals or stone that can do no judging at all. Other gods are those inanimate objects men decide to consider so valuable they spend their lives in pursuit after them, but all of them fall into the category of those perishable things. Our God is alive and well and He sees all men as equal in His sight. Each person who has ever lived has the same opportunity to accept Him as their God or reject Him and He will judge each man’s work or act, or by implication choice. This leaves those who have chosen to live according to His ways rather the worlds to live here as a stranger, as foreign resident, having no citizenship in this world. How many implications does that stir in our minds? We have been called God’s ambassadors, representing our sovereign King in a foreign land, speaking for Him. As such we are not subject the laws which govern the behaviors of this foreign land. We do not live as they do, we do not seek after the same things they do, we do not worship the things they do, we do not conduct the affairs of our life as they do and we do not use the same principles to guide our decisions as they do. Our life is different in every aspect from those who have rejected the Father for some other god of their making. We are not to live an empty life that was handed down to us by the way of the world. That is how we are admonished to live in the passage. The question we must ask ourselves, is are we? Have we allowed the world to infiltrate the way we think and behave or are we making every effort to infiltrate the thinking and behavior of the world? Are we in fact strangers here for our citizenship is in heaven?