Temporary Residents

 

Friday, February 11, 2022

And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do.  So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.”  For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors.  And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value.  It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.  God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.  Through Christ you have come to trust in God.  And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.  You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters.  Love each other deeply with all your heart.  

1 Peter 1:17-22

I can honestly say I do not recall a time when I met a refugee; that is, other than the thousands of people who populated the churches I served over the years…or the millions of people who I passed on the street or Interstate, or every pastor I met a conference, or child my kids went to school with…or salesperson who checked-out my purchase.  Or…well…you get the idea; we’re ALL refugees, just passing through this time on earth, about threescore and ten trips around the sun.  So, to what significance was the Big Fisherman, Peter, pointing when he called us “temporary residents”?  Is it an important distinction?

The most poignant reference is the distinction between the words “inherited” and “empty”.  Normally we consider an inheritance to be a “plus”.  Of course, someone we love, and who loved us, has to die for us to receive it…but the “gain” is on the credit-side of the balance sheet.  But Peter calls our old, inherited life empty!  And he calls the new life as temporary residents, nomads, precious, a gift of glory.  This seems to be an inversion of evaluation.

I live in a house with central heat and air, on a nice, quiet street.  There are two cars in my garage.  There is food on my table, and in the fridge, as well as the pantry.  By the world’s standards, compared to most people in other lands, I am rich.  And yet, with all I have of this world’s stuff surrounding me, it is all temporary.  And that is because it is stuff…unseeing, unfeeling, breakable, temporary, and costly.  If you don’t believe that “stuff” is costly, you need to journal how many hours you spend fixing some of it, or waiting on someone else to arrive to fix it…if you can find someone who can really “fix” anything.  The cost of having far exceeds the energy you used in getting.

By comparison, consider the value of the precious blood of Christ’s gift of salvation, and the assurance of Heaven.  Everything you own or experience in this life fades when you lift the veil on Golgotha’s hill, and roll away the stone from Arimithea’s tomb.  It was a gift of love, that blood dripping down the rough-hewn beams of that execution Friday.  You couldn’t buy that with Elon Musk’s fortune.

For You Today

It’s important to remember that “stuff” or fortunes, or lack of “stuff” and misery, are all temporary; the only things certain in this life are death and the love of God.  That makes this life temporary, and it makes you transitory.  Change…eternal change…is coming.  Paying attention to Peter’s admonition here is all-important if you are to prepare for death and the love of God.  Peter said that because of the loving gift of Jesus Christ, each of us must love one another deeply…with all our hearts.  God doesn’t see THAT as temporary; it’s all that will last through eternity.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©