Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and temporary residents to abstain from fleshly desires that war against you. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that in a case where they speak against you as those who do what is evil, they will, by observing your good works, glorify God on the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:11,12 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)
I love the way Peter refers to our life on earth: strangers and temporary residents. It is such a powerful concept for me. This earth is not our home; we are strangers here, traveling to our eternal home, heaven. Because of this we can’t live like everyone else, we have to abstain from much of what people around us are doing. We live in the world but cannot allow ourselves to be contaminated by it, or to make it our primary goal. Heaven, God, and faith are our treasures, not this world.
The problem is that many of us do not understand that we are at war with the devil, demons, fleshly desires, and our emotions. If we don’t consciously rise up and do battle against this world, it will defeat us. It’s so clear that the devil and his demons are working every single day. We’re constantly attacked with old and new temptations. The devil doesn’t rest, and doesn’t give up, and so we have to be even more determined and persistent in our faith. The more we can remind ourselves that we are in a war, the safer we will be.
It’s a war that has already been won; our job is to make Jesus’ victory our own.
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