Heart Tracks - Alien Nation

     In Acts 7:6, it's said of the Israelites living in Egypt that they were "resident aliens living in a country belonging to others."  I think this is an apt description of all who are truly His, and gives a great definition of what it is to be "in the world but not of it."  The Israelites lived in, raised and provided for families, and were in contact with all parts of Egyptian culture, but that culture and country was never theirs.  It belonged to "others."

I wonder, does yours and my lifestyle bear such a description today?  Are we defined by the culture of the society and country we live in, or is it the "other country," Kingdom country that defines our lives?
    The Jews country was always, ultimately, the Father and the Kingdom He gave to them.  Sometimes, because of persecution, but more often due to their disobedience, they would find themselves living in places outside the boundaries of the country their Father had given them through His promise to Abraham.  One such place was Ethiopia.  The Ethiopians gave a name to the Jews who lived among them, Falasha.  It means "strangers."  Though they'd lived there for hundreds of years, this was still the name by which they were 

known.  They were, as spoken of in Hebrews, "strangers, aliens, and nomads in the land."  Nomads never truly take root anywhere.  They are always moving on, looking for that better country.  No matter where they are, the pull of that better country draws them onward, and in our case, upward.  Wherever "here" is, it is not "there," and there is where they're being drawn to.  We, you and I, are to live as Falasha, strangers.  Strangers to the culture, mindset, and value system of the land we are passing through.  Our strangeness is not marked by bizarre behavior, though a true "vagabond in Christ," will look very bizarre to all who make their home in the surrounding country.  Nor is it marked by regular church attendance, tithing, membership in a church or small group, or political and social activism.  It is marked by our embracing and love for the culture of the Kingdom, and rejection of the culture and kingdom of this world.  As that culture "looks" at our lives, it can only call us Falasha, strangers.  They recognize that we don't belong in their world.  Do our unbelieving neighbors, co-workers, family and friends look at us in that way?  More, do those within the church, who have wholeheartedly embraced this Falasha lifestye, who have truly come out and become separate, make us more uncomfortable than comfortable when around them?  Do we, at least in our hearts, call them "too mystical, too out there, too heavenly minded to of any earthly good?"  Do we fit more closely with the culture of this world than with the culture they've embraced?  Would we prefer that they find a more "middle-ground" spiritual life.....like we have?  Do we, at least in unspoken ways, feel we've found the better country here, and so have ceased to journey on to the one the Father created us for, if indeed we ever began that journey to begin with?
    There's an automobile ad that depicts a couple that has gotten lost and finds itself in the midst of a high-performance car race.  The woman leans out her window and asks one of the drivers for directions but gets no response.  She turns to the man and says, "They're not from around here."  A friend, commenting on that ad said, "That should be the response of the world when encountering His people.  They should realize very quickly as they interact with us that we're not from around here."  We're resident aliens, indeed, an alien nation, just passing through.  Not just looking for a better country, but in a very real sense, living in it already as we journey towards the fullness that He calls us to in it.  We've found nothing of it in the culture that surrounds us, but have found everything in the culture of the Kingdom in Him and within us.  Are we living just like all the "Ethiopians" around us, or are we truly "Falasha," strangers in a strange land, yet fully at home in Him?  And you know, it just could be that while on this journey, we draw many others along, who formerly were of the other country, yet have joined us on the journey in and with Him.

 

Blessings,

Pastor O