This World Is Not My Home...
May. 7th, 2006 11:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
songofjoy02I'm just a-passin' through...
Our pastor started teaching on I Peter today and, if I was following properly, I think we got through the first three verses. With illegal immigration in all the news (at least locally, warming up for the primary elections and also due to various rallies), we were listening intently as he described a group of people in our town who don't really belong here and who sometimes suffer hardship because they are not citizens. "I'm not talking about a specific group of people; I'm talking about us."
I've been reading through I Kings lately and laughing at myself for being so critical of U.S. politicians. I think that mudslinging is horrible (which it really is), but the people in the O.T. (as, no doubt, some people in the world today) would not just vote for a candidate. Oh, no...they'd kill the competition--literally. And then we'll talk about how someone is "using his position" (with a negative implication)...well, look at Ahab. He was king and he wanted something. He threw a fit and then let his wife pacify him by killing the person who wouldn't give him what he wanted.
Certainly, there are people who are that manipulative or unprincipled, but I am glad to think (perhaps ignorantly) that things aren't quite that bad here at the moment!
Our pastor started teaching on I Peter today and, if I was following properly, I think we got through the first three verses. With illegal immigration in all the news (at least locally, warming up for the primary elections and also due to various rallies), we were listening intently as he described a group of people in our town who don't really belong here and who sometimes suffer hardship because they are not citizens. "I'm not talking about a specific group of people; I'm talking about us."
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...
I Peter 1:1-3
I think it's really easy to forget that this world is not our home. We forget that eternity awaits us, that our citizenship is in heaven. I know I forget that. Nearly all of my struggles in life relate to that, too. I yearn for this or that and then realize that God has already provided me with the means to fulfill His goals for His glory through my life. How can I forget that?! I Peter 1:1-3
I've been reading through I Kings lately and laughing at myself for being so critical of U.S. politicians. I think that mudslinging is horrible (which it really is), but the people in the O.T. (as, no doubt, some people in the world today) would not just vote for a candidate. Oh, no...they'd kill the competition--literally. And then we'll talk about how someone is "using his position" (with a negative implication)...well, look at Ahab. He was king and he wanted something. He threw a fit and then let his wife pacify him by killing the person who wouldn't give him what he wanted.
Certainly, there are people who are that manipulative or unprincipled, but I am glad to think (perhaps ignorantly) that things aren't quite that bad here at the moment!
