Aliens

 For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, As were all our fathers; our days on the earth are like a shadow." I Chronicles 29:15

Aliens are among us. I'm one of them. Are you?

Now, before you start asking me if I've been to the Mothership or had conversations with odd looking creatures with huge eyes and oddly shaped heads, I am not speaking of such beings at all. I am identifying with the above Scripture. My life, the way I live, the values I hold to, the way I view people and the surrounding culture and its worldview, is to be alien to all of it. The people of God are to live like, as a friend put it, "like we're not from around here." I hope my life looks like that. As one who is in Christ, it should. If you make such a confession as well, yours must too.

The Israelites were known as Hebrews. The word Hebrew means "alien." From Abraham onward, they were aliens in every land they lived in. They were always pilgrims, passing through the lands but never taking root. God, through Abraham, had called them to be a people apart from every other race and people. This was the case until He led them out of the slavery in Egypt and into the land He had given them as their inheritance. In that land, they were to embody the Kingdom of God. They failed. They were not to become a part of the surrounding pagan nations or adopt their ways and values. It was God's desire that instead, they would used of HIm to bring them to Himself. That they would become part of His people, His Kingdom. That never happened. At first, they embraced all the ways of those unbelieving peoples and departed from their God. Later in their history, they returned to Him, but now they completely rejected all other people, seeing them as unclean and living in isolation from them. Both were destructive responses, and both completely missed the heart and will of God. I think we modern day believers continue in their blindness.

Christ and His ways were alien to all those He ministered to, especially to all the religious Jewish leaders of His day. He invited all people to Himself and proclaimed to all of them that the way to God was not through good works, or keeping rules, or avoiding evil people. It was through faith in Him alone. It was through a renouncing of the ways and values of the world and an embracing of the Kingdom He preached and invited them into. It was and remains His Kingdom, founded on His grace, mercy, and love. The door into it was opened by His sacrificial death on the cross and in His resurrection from the dead. It was His Kingdom of Light and Life. A Kingdom that had and has conquered all the power of darkness and death. Its citizens are transformed into people that more and more reflect their Lord Jesus. The ways of this fallen world are alien to them, and they are alien to this world. I know. I once lived in the dark kingdom, and those I met from His Kingdom were certainly alien to me. Strange strangers. Then the day came, so long coming, when I heard and answered His invitation. Before, the Kingdom that is eternal was alien to me. Now, the fallen kingdom of this world that is passing away is even more so. This can only happen through the entrance of Jesus Christ into my life as both Savior and Lord. I now live out the words spoken by the blind man whose sight Jesus restored, "Once I was blind, but now I see." Not by the works of men or reason, but by His entrance into and transformation of my heart.

So, I come back to my question: Are you an alien? Which kingdom are you most at home in? Whose "citizens" seem most alien to you? Which are you most comfortable around? Are you a pilgrim passing through this world, or are you so attached that you have no desire to ever leave? Are you not from around here, or are you very much "here" right now? Oh, and isn't it strange that throngs of people long to meet an extraterrestrial, an alien, but give almost no thought to meeting the One who is truly not of this world, Jesus Christ?

Blessings,

Pastor O