When we went to Japan as missionaries, one of our first tasks was to register as aliens at the city office. When our hosts determined we were who we said we were, they gave us alien registration cards that were to be in our possession at all times.
Recently when our Sunday School class reviewed I Peter, chapters one and two, our teacher kept reminding us that we are sojourners, foreigners, aliens in this world. Beloved, I implore you as aliens and strangers and exiles [in this world] to abstain from the sensual urges (the evil desires, the passions of the flesh, your lower nature) that wage war against the soul. (I Peter 2:11) This reminded me of our experience in Japan. As citizens of the United States, we were obligated to register as aliens in Japan.
If it was important we be card-carrying aliens in Japan, how much more important is it that we as Christians, citizens of another country, be card-carrying aliens in this world? When I mentioned this idea, another class member said, “As aliens, we shouldn’t ‘look like’ the world.”
In Japan, authorities were unlikely to think we were natives—with or without our cards. However, as Christians would we have to be ‘carded’ to determine where our true citizenship lies? A sobering question. Do we look, think and act so much like the world that it’s unrecognizable that we are aliens?
Charles Stanley says, “The culture we live in is characterized by spiritual darkness. Sadly, even those of us who are believers become so accustomed to the dark that we feel neither shocked nor shamed by much of what goes on around us. Perhaps we see the sin but don’t acknowledge it as wrong, or maybe we just don’t notice it anymore.”
I would say becoming comfortable with the darkness is just one step away from participating in the works of darkness. If we look, think and talk so much like the world that our “alien status” is unrecognizable, it is likely that we have allowed too much of the world to rub off on us. When we returned from Japan in 2011, we were disturbed to discover the spirit of compromise that had taken over much of the body of Christ. Worldly behavior and philosophies abounded.
As I worked on this blog over the past few weeks, the essence of a song from the past tugged at my mind. Donn came up with the group who had recorded this song (Petra), which enabled me to find it. I love the title which is repeated in the chorus: We are strangers, we are aliens. We are not of this world. Here’s the verse of the song by Bob Hartman.
Not of this World
We are pilgrims in a strange land
We are so far from our homeland
With each passing day it seems so clear
This world will never want us here
We’re not welcome in this world of wrong
We are foreigners who don’t belong
If this song does not describe you, “ask the Lord to shed His light on your life to reveal any compromises or hidden sinful desires. Then receive His forgiveness and the power to walk in His ways” (Charles Stanley).
May God help us not to become so comfortable in the world that we forget where are true citizenship lies. May it be obvious to those around us that we are not of this world.
