Passing Through

Beloved, I exhort you as aliens and exiles, to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul 1 Peter 2:11

Aliens and Exiles – There is no doubt about what Peter had in mind. We just don’t seem to be listening.

In Greek, paroikos and parepidemos. Literally, “near the house” and “close to the people”. Both words carry the sense of temporary. They are descriptions of someone who does not belong, someone who is traveling through the land, someone who is a stranger to the customs, the language, the expectations. Both words give us a picture of someone who is outside the contemporary culture. They are among us, but not really part of us. They are in the population but not citizens. They are the strangers in a strange land.

You’ve heard this before, but have you ever asked why we are temporary strangers? It’s simple. We don’t have our hope fixed in this world. Our hope is rooted somewhere else.

Now I ask you: Are you a stranger in this land? Is your life detached from the influences, the goals, the expectations of this culture? Is your hope somewhere else. Or are you trying to find the answer here?

Jesus told us that salt without saltiness is worthless. A lamp under a basket is useless. And you can’t hide a city on a hill. If you aren’t different, what are you? If you don’t stand out as strange, are you just one more example of the world around you?

These two Greek words are penetrating. They are visible measures of my Christian commitment. They are mirrors for me to examine what I really look like. So hold them up and stare into the glass. What do you see?

Do you see a person who strives to fit in? Who buys the “image” pressure of the culture? Who works for gain? Do you see a person who talks like the culture, watches what the culture watches, mimics what the culture promotes in style, politics, education, values? Do you see someone who fits comfortably into the American version of religion, a place where personal success and affluence are equated with spirituality? Do you fight the same battles as the citizens of this world, wrestling with sex, power, money, prestige and accumulation? Is your life exhausting, joyless, without peace and deep satisfaction?

Or are you different? Not just better. Not just more moral. Are you really different? Do you march to a drum beat found only in heaven? Are your values determined by His word? Are your behaviors at odds with the pressure of the world?

We are called to be sojourners, temporary travelers through the land, calling into question the contemporary culture’s view of life by our very presence. Be like your father Abraham. Travel well.