“I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me.” (Psalm 119:19, NIV)
As believers in Jesus Christ, we are strangers in the very world we live in. Because of sin’s effect on us and this world, this existence will end, and there will be a new Heaven and a new Earth. As born again believers in Jesus Christ we have already been made new and are ready to live in that new world, but we remain in this one. At times the strangeness of this reality can be quite apparent. The Word of God is the traveler’s guide to those who live as strangers in this world, all the while longing for their true home.
We remain in this world as strangers so that we might touch the lives of others who are lost and need to know Jesus. The Lord leaves us here because we have a job to do. We are to seek and to save the lost. Again, the Word of God becomes our instruction book as to how to do that job in this strange place. The Word of God is more than the instruction book — it is what we share with those around us. It has within itself the power to touch and transform the lives of the lost and make them found.
Last, sometimes it’s lonely when you’re in a strange place. It is nice when you can open up an email from a loved one at home and, for a moment, feel like you have been transported back home. The Word of God is that for us, too. As we ponder and meditate upon the Word of God, it is like a letter from home. It is welcoming and assuring that all will be fine as we travel in this strange place.
May God’s Word be for you and me all that has been described in this devotion as we live our lives in this strange world.
Peace!
Pastor Tom
www.firmlyrooted.church