Israel was in exile. God’s people were taken out of Zion and now lived in Babylon. They
wondered “How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?” Though they lived in Babylon their allegiance was still to the Lord. They were strangers in a land that was not their own. This put them in a unique predicament.
I’ve felt like that. Sometimes I look at the world around us and wonder “Where do we begin? How can we be a witness for the Lord in such a broken world?”. Just watching the news can be an overwhelming experience. It becomes clear just how lost humanity is without God.
We are called by Jesus to be salt and light, but where do we begin? 1 Peter 2 gives us an idea. It says of the church: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the
praises of him who called you out of darkness into his
wonderful light…Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
Peter encourages us to live as we are called. We have been called to shine for Christ in the midst of the darkness. We are called to live in such a way that we stand out for it. Our lives are to be distinct from the lives of non-believers in the way that we love! So the simple answer to how to live in a strange land is to live as the people God has called us to be. We follow him knowing that we will stumble and fall, but that he has promised to pick us up , dust us off and forgive us. We have been set free to live for Him!
Amen!