I've been meditating (a fancy way of saying I've only been reading one thing over and over) on 1 Peter for the most part of this summer. Reading it several times has reminded me of one of my least favorite aspects of my eight months in Albania, which I will now share.
While Albania was a great experience, the one thing that always bothered me was how my team and I stuck out in the village and received a lot of attention, mostly unflattering. I loved it when we made trips to the city because I did not stick out as much. I like fitting in, but in the village there was no way I could fit in, even if I dressed like an Albanian or spoke in Albanian (both of which I did). I was a stranger to that village in Albania, and I couldn't change that because I couldn't change the fact that I was an American. I'm sure missionaries to Asia or Africa can relate even more to this aspect of mission life.
I also think followers of Jesus can relate to this aspect of life.
Two themes of 1 Peter are suffering for doing good and being strangers to the world. The verse that has stuck out to me is 1:17, "Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear." Peter calls the believers, in light of their salvation, to live like strangers, since they have become strangers to the world, "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light" (2:9).
Since followers of Jesus are "aliens and strangers in the world" (2:11), they will stand out, and it won't be easy for them (though it will be worth it). The world will press them to look like itself. I watched a Cornerstone podcast last night in which the pastor preached on Romans 12:1-2, and I felt that it fit well with the themes of 1 Peter. Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing, and perfect will."
The world wants believers to be pressed into its mold, to look like itself. But those who have turned to Jesus are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We must, on a daily basis, recognize the war we are in and choose to die to ourselves and live for Jesus (Romans 6). We need people around us who are also new creations. We must remember Jesus' words in Matthew 16:25, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it," and that "in his great mercy he (God) has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3).
While Albania was a great experience, the one thing that always bothered me was how my team and I stuck out in the village and received a lot of attention, mostly unflattering. I loved it when we made trips to the city because I did not stick out as much. I like fitting in, but in the village there was no way I could fit in, even if I dressed like an Albanian or spoke in Albanian (both of which I did). I was a stranger to that village in Albania, and I couldn't change that because I couldn't change the fact that I was an American. I'm sure missionaries to Asia or Africa can relate even more to this aspect of mission life.
I also think followers of Jesus can relate to this aspect of life.
Two themes of 1 Peter are suffering for doing good and being strangers to the world. The verse that has stuck out to me is 1:17, "Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear." Peter calls the believers, in light of their salvation, to live like strangers, since they have become strangers to the world, "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light" (2:9).
Since followers of Jesus are "aliens and strangers in the world" (2:11), they will stand out, and it won't be easy for them (though it will be worth it). The world will press them to look like itself. I watched a Cornerstone podcast last night in which the pastor preached on Romans 12:1-2, and I felt that it fit well with the themes of 1 Peter. Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing, and perfect will."
The world wants believers to be pressed into its mold, to look like itself. But those who have turned to Jesus are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We must, on a daily basis, recognize the war we are in and choose to die to ourselves and live for Jesus (Romans 6). We need people around us who are also new creations. We must remember Jesus' words in Matthew 16:25, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it," and that "in his great mercy he (God) has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3).
"Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 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." -1 Peter 2:11-12