1st Peter 2

“Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. ¹² Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.” v. 11-12 (NLT)

As believers, we are “temporary residence and foreigners” in this world because our real home is with God.  However, it is very easy to get caught up in this world and forget that the world we know right now is only temporary.  Our true loyalty should be to our citizenship in Heaven, not to our citizenship here, because the earth will be destroyed.  Our loyalty should be to God’s truth, his way of life, and his dedicated people.  Because we are loyal to God, we often will feel like strangers in a world that would prefer to ignore God. Thus, the battle for how we live and what we live for rages on the inside of us.  There is always the temptation to put God on pause and live for ourselves in “the moment.”  The enemy will try to convince us to live how we want and ask God for forgiveness latter.  This type of lifestyle cheapens what Christ did on the cross.  Because of the cross and my love and dedication to Christ should cause me to live my life differently.

Today, lets focus on the coming kingdom and not just the worldly kingdom we see here and now.  Depending on how we live now, in this world, will determine how and where we live in the future.  Don’t cheapen the cross by believing the temptation to live how you want now, and ask for forgiveness later.  Choose today to live for Christ, not for yourself or for anyone else, and you will experience God in ways you never thought possible!