A Stranger in This World
by Gene Easley
"Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul" (1 Peter 2:11).
The Christian is not only a pilgrim in this world, but he is also a stranger. We are strangers with God in this world. The stranger does not fit in because he is not a part of the local society. The stranger is not known by the locals. And so it is with God, and so it is with those who are a part of His family through Jesus Christ.
Though Christians will receive many invitations to become citizens of this world, this is not our place to settle down. It does not look like home to us, its glitter and glamour do not appeal. There is a hope more glorious that has touched the chords of our hearts, and our longing is for a country "whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. 11:10). "For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come" (Heb. 13:14). Our citizenship is in heaven.
There are many who would call themselves friends of God; yet they love the world. If we are buddies with the world, we are at enmity with God. One cannot sit at the bar on Saturday night with his drinking friends and then sit in church Sunday morning at God’s table and be His friend. And there are many other things one can’t do Saturday night or any other time during the week and still be a true friend of God. We can’t sing, "Oh, how I love Jesus," and at the same time embrace the world.
We don't work at becoming so obnoxious to the world that it doesn't like us. But our testimony is that we draw so close to God that we no longer have anything in common with the world. The sad testimony of the church today is that we do have too much in common with the world. We think like the world; we look like it; and we act like it.
Everyone is aware that the Christian has to work on the job, make money to pay the bills, spend time at the market place, and buy this world’s goods. We sit at the table and eat this world’s produce. But if we are a friend of God, it will be easy to detect a difference in our manner of life as compared to those who don’t know God.
Friendship requires a certain love relationship. You can’t love God and love the world at the same time. They are opposites. I want to walk so close to God that my love for Him remains genuine and fervent. I want to keep a distance from this world so that its attractions don’t lure me away. I want to remain a stranger and pilgrim until I reach the gates of that celestial city where I have full citizenship and will be known by God. I will feel totally at home with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and with all of those who have forsaken this world to be one of those "accepted in the beloved" (Eph. 1:6).
As has already been noted, a stranger is not a part of the local community. The locals don’t know him, and he doesn’t know them. We can learn this world’s system. We can learn how to fit in and how to become a success. We can learn how to become one of the crowd and what it takes to be accepted by the local citizens. We can put down roots and become wrapped up with the pursuits of the earthly. We can lose the pilgrim spirit, and we can easily lose our identity as a stranger. The only answer for the Christian is to keep a continual communion with Christ, so that we don’t forget who we are. In our walk with Him, we must have constant encounters with the heavenly so that we don’t become content with the earthly. We must have a life in the Spirit that keeps us in another realm, above the spirit of this world.
It is essential to keep our citizenship in heaven up to date; to remember where home is; to keep in close contact with our Father on high. The child of God walks differently, talks differently and acts differently, and we must never lose that truth.
"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in glory" (Col. 3:2-4). We will make our appearance some day in a land where we will never be a stranger. This hope keeps us from feeling sorry for ourselves because of the rejection by the world. No one will be a stranger in heaven.
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