Name Tags: You are… Aliens & Strangers
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.
1 Peter 2:11 (NASB 1995)
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household…
Ephesians 2:19 (NASB 1995)
For our citizenship is in Heaven.
Philippians 3:20 (NIV)
Being called an alien or stranger seems like an undesirable name tag. “We the people” feel a need to belong.
So we put on our home team uniforms and conform to acceptable standards… with back pats and applause as our focus.
PREQUAL: Peer pressure starts young and can rule our lives. Leaders huddle in condescending cliques, deciding who belongs and who to shun. The “popular group” is a cutting group.
Those who can’t or don’t follow their rule books are isolated and often attacked, because they couldn’t or wouldn’t fit in.
In considering some Christian churches, I see cultural Christianity: men reveling in their self-anointments; reviling others who don't look like them; avoiding the world like a contagion.
Actors, models, and talent for Christ:
You're called to conform to Christ, NOT a church– nor denominational church decrees. In those congregations, you’ll be strangers, Praise God!
Because Job, Joseph, David, and JESUS were treated like strangers by their own kin, and/or among Jewish congregations… which places you in the best company.
Consider:
People pleasing is forbidden by God.*
We can’t love our families more than Him.*
Our home is Heaven. We ARE strangers here.*
Knowing this truth transforms our perspective.*
God calls us to love and welcome strangers.*
God anoints and prefers humble people.*
Thank God for the nametag of ALIEN.*
Since your citizenship is in Heaven, remain “alien” to haughty churches and “strangers” to common idolatry.
Name Tags: You Are… Aliens & Stranges (Part 5)
*1) 'Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ' (Galatians 1:10, NIV).
*2) 'He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me' (Matthew 10:37, NASB).
*3) 'If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world' (John 15:19, NIV).
*4) 'But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for Him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like His Own, using the same power with which He will bring everything under His control' (Philippians 3:21-21, NLT).
*5) 'The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God' (Leviticus 19:34, NKJV).
*6) But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him (1 Corinthians 1:27-29, NIV).
*7) The Parable of the Dinner: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+14%3A16-24&version=NASB
NOTE: God is my Ghostwriter. If what I write is good, it’s from God. You may see notes to 'Actors, Models & Talent for Christ.' If you think you're not in show business, think again. Shakespeare said, 'All the world's a stage and all its men and women merely players.’ Mostly true. But you're not merely players. You are messengers and ambassadors for the King of kings.