Exiles at War
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
Do you ever feel like you do not belong? Do you feel like a stranger in a strange land? Has it ever felt like you were at war with yourself, or with the world around you?
We do not belong to this broken world. As followers of Jesus, we are citizens of another kingdom—The Kingdom of God.
Our sinful nature is at odds with, and is even at war with, the presence and purpose of God in our lives and in this world.
The Apostle Peter wrote, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” (1 Peter 2:11, ESV).
As we journey through this life, we cannot live the way we want to—in our own self-seeking and selfish sinful desires. We must live differently in our lives and in this world.
There is an enemy of God, and this evil one seeks to wage war on the things of God and on the people of God. We must resist and abstain from our sinful passions and reflect the image of Jesus in our lives and in this world as we live as citizens of the Kingdom of God here and now.
May we live as citizens of God’s Kingdom as sojourners in this life and may we abstain from anything and everything that wages war against our very souls.
A Covenant Prayer, by John Wesley: “I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, position me with who you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or brought low for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you are mine, and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.” (#93., Book of Common Prayer, 2019).
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
