Tag Archives: 1 Peter 2:11-12

Foreigners in a strange land

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We arrived in South Korea after twenty hours of travel, including the exhausting 13 hour flight across Canada, Siberia and China. We found the Incheon Airport to be one of the most friendly and peaceful we have ever encountered. Actually most everyone in the Korean service industry were good ambassadors and very helpful and accommodating to us. Our son, Michael and his girlfriend Mia (Jeon Eun Gi) especially helped us adapt to our new surroundings.

 

If you have visited another country, you recognize you are a foreigner in a strange land, adjusting to a culture that is new to you with different foods, manners, language, and practices.
P1020398One of the places where we stayed was a traditional Korean guest house. The tiny room had no bed or chairs or closet. Instead of a bed, we are given floor mats/quilts to sleep on. It wasn’t the level of comfort we were accustomed to but the fact quickly came to mind that many in the world do not have even this.

 

Imagine if, while staying in the guesthouse for just three nights, we decided to tear out a wall and build an addition to make room for a bed and sofa and chairs for our lodging. You would consider it absurd to make such extravagant purchases for such a short visit. You’d say, “Bryan, remember where you belong. Invest your valuable resources in your permanent home.”   And you would be right.

 

In fact, we are all travelers and sojourners in a foreign land. This temporary place we call home is just a stopping place for each of us. We often fail to recognize this because it is all we know. And while we are here, we are called to be Christ’s ambassadors, seeking not our own pleasures, but instead motivated by the call to urge others to be reconciled with God. (2 Corinthians 5:20) Instead of fighting to assert our ‘rights’ as tourists seeking to make our surroundings more comfortable, we are actually called to put others first (Philippians 2:3-4). Each of us is an ambassador to those around us, especially those who think, talk, behave and believe differently from us.

 

I wonder what ‘strange and foreign lands’ you will encounter today. What different beliefs and actions will rise up against your own? What people will beg your welcoming accommodation? Will they see you as entrenched in this world or as a foreigner, an ambassador of Christ? Hold your ground and keep your behavior excellent among those around you…that they may see that your citizenship is really in heaven and because of your kindness and integrity, come to be reconciled with God.

 

“Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” 1 Peter 2:11-12

 

 

There’s No Place Like Home

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Each time I’ve watched The Wizard of Oz I’m  captivated by the scene where Dorothy fears she will never get back to her Kansas home because the wizard’s balloon left without her. Glinda shows up and tells Dorothy that she always had the power to go back home, but that she wouldn’t have believed it, saying, “She had to learn for herself.” Of course, we all know that Dorothy takes time to reflect that what she learned most was, “There is no place like home.”

Where do you call home? Is it where you live? Or maybe where you grew up or somewhere you used to live? Maybe you have a second home you use for vacations.

The bible teaches us that we are “foreigners in a strange land,” (1 Peter 2:11-12); that we are actually “citizens of heaven” Philippians 3:20-21); and that our behaviors and ambitions should reflect this. While we are citizens of our own country and have a home on this earth, this is not our real home. We are just visiting for a very short span of time in the middle of eternity.

Think how foolish it would be if you vacationed somewhere for a week or two and decided to invest all your time and money remodeling the place for that short visit. You’d spend all that time and money for a short moment of your life. That is a picture of our 70-100 year life; it is actually a very short period of time, perhaps a blink of an eye, compared to how long we will all live (somewhere) for eternity.

Evan GiallanzaEvan Giallanza knew this. He lived in El Paso where he served as worship leader and pastor at my sister’s church. But he knew his real home was in heaven. He loved Jesus, his family, his church and people in general. He fought a hard fight with a difficult cancer and fought it well, even laughing and making others laugh at the end, amidst his pain. I find myself missing this man whom I never have met!  So when I was told that Evan “went home” to be with the Lord on Memorial Day, I knew this was not just a cliché or euphemism for dying. Evan is home; no more pain, no more sorrow.  There is no place like (your real) home, a home of perfect peace that surpasses all understanding.

Would you join me in praying for his dear wife Jill who not only lost her husband but also her mother who died that same day? And also pray for their children Amy, Dustin, and Kaitlin? So many of you have prayed for Marcia and me; I tell you the truth: our battle, while still in process, is very light and momentary compared to the struggles Evan and Jill have faced and that Jill and her children have ahead of them. Perhaps you would even commit to adding this special family to your daily prayer agenda, especially during this difficult season. Thank you.