“Strangers and Pilgrims”...the Wayfarer

2 years, 10 months ago

“Strangers and Pilgrims”

“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;”

(1Peter 2:11)

Today, we go to the writings of the rock on which Christ founded his Church.

Of all the apostles, Peter was the first to recognize the need to wholly commit to the great commission.

Both he, and Paul, took the message of salvation beyond the confines of the few who knew of Jesus, and his sacrifice, among their own people to the rest of the known world, giving guidance to those believers living among societies that themselves refused that message.

Both were persecuted for their efforts but neither ever gave up in the commitment to assure that message be passed to all who would listen.

Both of these men were strangers and pilgrims, both were at ease with the fact that they were aliens to those to whom they went.

When we hear the word Pilgrim, here in this country, we immediately have a mental picture of a group of settlers who left their homes, families, wealth, and possessions to come to a new land to avoid discrimination and persecution.

Little thought is given to them outside the context of our celebration of a national holiday, “Thanksgiving”, that in and of itself has been stripped of its original reason  for celebration and is in fact celebrated in hedonistic, and selfish manner by those viewing it only as another excuse for a day off.

The concepts and beliefs that brought this group of people here are still in existence… though eroded, and watered down, constantly by the very laws that same people passed to protect their right to worship without the interference and encumbrance of a heavy handed State Religion.

That State Religion, has now become the religion of no religion at all, one that protects only those who express their displeasure with anything that teaches morality and anything vaguely connected to the God they came to worship.

Just as this hardy group of people faced hardship after hardship, refusing to allow their children to be brought up under the tyranny of constant ridicule and persecution, so too should their descendants refuse to allow what they built to be torn down for the false gods being given us by our politically correct, but ungodly society.

Peter, in the first two chapters of this epistle, reminds the believers of not only who they are, but who they are intended to be by Christ.

He reminds them that they are in fact, aliens to their societies if they are to be the people chosen by God for salvation.

“Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”

(1Peter 1:22-25)

Alien, stranger, pilgrim, those who profess Christ will inevitably be considered, and must in fact be, set apart from those they live among.

As a  youngster, having moved from the hills of east Tennessee to the Midwest,  I found  my manner of speech, and accent, often ridiculed by those raised hearing only their own dialect and distinct manner of speech.

Over the years I learned to rise above the hurtfulness of those considering me different, and instead of demeaning them for their own mannerisms, turned instead to the vast and rich vocabulary that exists in our language, no matter how it is spoken.

On returning to these hills, where I was born, and which I love so dearly, I found myself once more under the scrutiny of those who willingly confessed, “You don’t talk like one of us.”

Alien in my own birth land, alien in other nations served in, alien in a steadfast belief in the teachings of Christ Jesus!

 Guilty! And proudly so!

I encourage all who truly believe to accept that foreignness that comes only through the true love and belief in Christ Jesus!

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”

(1 Peter 2:9 &10)

The time has come to remember that we are intended to be that peculiar people, stand together as one united people…God’s people, and take back that which He gave us.

It is time to be that people, not just profess to be that people one day a week as we meet with others.

It is time that our love for God, and his people be more than lip service.

It is time that our governance be subjected to the higher laws of that God, and that we demand their compliance with that law.

It is time to put aside the petty differences found in denomination, association, or other man made group, recognize  and submit to the singular commandment given us by Jesus and show that we are believers.

Failure to do so will only result in further isolation, further derision, further division, that can only assure the success of a complete degeneration to the political correctness that dominates our lives instead of the biblical correctness that should.

I close once again, in prayer for this nation, and this people to return to our intended course.

I remain, the same simple servant, saved by grace through faith in One True God, by having heard and responded to the call to repentance preached by my Savior... yet, and always, nothing more than an unworthy but willing soldier in service to Him alone... secure in the knowledge of who wins, and in trepidation for those finding themselves on the other side as the books are opened…..

2 Timothy 1:12King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen and Amen
the Wayfarer