Thoughts on 1 Peter - Day 9

                               1 Peter 2:11,12

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. ¹² Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.


         I looked up foreigners and exiles in my Greek dictionary and putting the two words together, here is what I come up with - a temporary dweller, not having a settled home where he is currently living because he will soon be going back to his permanent dwelling place. However, in the meantime he is in , among, and assimilated with the people of that foreign land.

       I am trying to come up with an analogy today. How about a soldier sent to the middle east. In a sense, yes, because they would never buy land, build a house, buy a car, settle down because their tour of duty will be over soon. That would be foolish. However that analogy breaks down because the soldiers pretty much stay with each other because of the dangers of close intimate contact with the indigent. Then I think of ambassadors. The ambassador represents his home country to a foreign nation. We are ambassadors, Paul says in 2 Cor.5, yet the analogy breaks down because the ambassador sets up his little piece of home on foreign soil (consulate) and stays there in safety hopefully, and the people come to him rather than the other way around. 

      So that leaves us with missionaries. Missionaries leave their home and dwell among citizens of a foreign land in their land among the people of this land no matter how dangerous it is to be an alien there. What do they do? They live such good lives among them, serving, giving, sacrificing in a way that unsaved people can't understand because they are run by the self centered sinful flesh that says me, me, me, that they are wooed into becoming Christians. Of course it is more than just example because Peter says, "they will glorify God". How would unsaved people know to glorify someone besides the missionaries unless like Joseph or Daniel we say "It's not me, it's the God I serve." Friendship evangelism, servant evangelism, social work is all great and commanded, yet if we don't share words, we might as well be good Hindus, Muslims, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons or Moonies.

       Do you see yourself as a missionary to a foreign country? If you had to write a support letter to the church back home, what would you say? Would you have some names of converts to share? Would you have a list of unsaved people that you want the people back home to pray for? My guess is most of us would have two responses. Number 1 , "I am currently in the process of assimilation" which is code speak for my family and I have become so immersed in the culture that we forgot what we are here for. The second response is "I am in the mission compound and am having great fellowship with the missionaries. We are currently formulating plans on how best to reach the people for Christ" which is code speak for it is dangerous out there and I much prefer hanging out with Christians.

       Every day when I dropped my kids off for school, because we chose to public school for this very reason, I would say, "remember, you are a missionary to Sevierville today. Bear fruit." which is code speak for " Live such good lives among the pagans that, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

      Lord, help me to view myself today as a missionary to the USA sent from Heaven for a short time. When I give my report back to You tonight, may I have something good to report. Amen