STRANGERS IN FAMILIAR PLACES

“And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.”

Hebrews 11:13b

            This past August, my wife and I took a trip to Michigan to pick up our daughter. She had been working at a Christian camp for the summer. We took an international friend along, so that he could see more of the country besides Mankato. On our way home, we made a stop at Wheaton College. I wanted to show our daughter and our friend where I had gone to college. I had a great time showing them all of the places that I had frequented when I was a student. We visited the building that housed the biology department, where I had spent hundreds of hours. To my surprise, the biology department was gone. We discovered that a brand new facility had been built to replace the old one. It was amazing. We walked the halls of Blanchard Hall and I showed them the classroom where I had history class, the stairs that led up to the rifle range, tucked in the attic rafters of the building, and the plaques on the wall that honored all the Wheaton graduates who have gone into full-time missions. We found our way into Edman Chapel and I was again taken aback by its size and elegance. We made our way to Pierce Chapel where the Men’s Glee club had practiced. There were many things about the campus that were so familiar, yet many things had changed. I was struck with the realization that I was a stranger in a familiar place.  

            As we move through the journey of life, we cross from one arena to another. For 18 years or so we live within the boundaries of our immediate family. During this time we move from elementary school to Jr. High to High School. Each of these stepping stones of life move us into new environments. We leave some places behind and learn to find our way in new places. Then, for many, it is on to college. For four or five or six years we live in the unique world of academics. We face new challenges. We learn what it means to live on our own and take responsibility for our actions. We often venture back to the old familiar places of our past, but with each passing year we feel less at home there. Then comes graduation and the “real world.” We are launched into the pursuit of a career and an identity. We establish our own home and our own family and we begin the cycle again. As we revisit the places we have frequented throughout our journey, they feel familiar, like renewing acquaintances with old friends. Yet, there is something different. We begin feeling less at home in those places. We begin to see ourselves as strangers in familiar places.

            The Bible tells us that spiritually we are strangers in familiar places. We are born into this world as a part of it. As we grow and develop, we become comfortable with our surroundings. They are familiar. They are the norm of our lives. This is home. But when Jesus comes into our lives all that changes.

            2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.” When Christ enters into our lives, we experience a new reality. We pass from a world dominated by sin and enter into a world motivated by Christ. Everything changes. We begin to see things differently. The places that were so appealing and comfortable lose their allure. We begin to feel less at home in this world.

            Several years ago, a friend of mine from China traveled home for a visit. He had become a Christian while studying here in America. I talked with him about the changes he would experience. He assured me that nothing had changed and all would be well. When he returned to Minnesota, I asked him how things had gone. “Everything has changed,” he replied. His friends had married and settled into jobs. The things they wanted to do while he was visiting made him uncomfortable. In short, that was not his home any more. “I feel more at home in Minnesota than I do in China,” he concluded.

            The longer we walk with Jesus the less we should feel at home in the world. We have become strangers in familiar places. In Hebrews 11, the writer talks about the great people of faith in the church. In verse 13 he states, “And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.” Aliens and strangers. There is an old gospel song we used to sing quite a bit. The first line went like this. “This world is not my home. I’m just passing through.” In a simple way, this song has captured the reality of every Christian. This is not home. We are on our way to our real home with Christ in heaven.

            But there is a problem. It is possible for us to begin to feel too comfortable here, to forget that this is not our home. When that happens we set up residence and settle in for the long term.

            Over the years I have had the privilege of working with many international students. Some of them come from countries where the standard of living is not the same as here in the America. The longer these students stay here, the less they want to return to their home country. Some of them try to set up residence here, forgetting that they are aliens and strangers in a foreign land. That is the way it can be for us as well.

            In 1 Peter 2, Peter challenges us not to lose sight of our true home. “But you are a chosen people, 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.” “Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 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.” (2 Peter 2:9,11-12 NIV)

            Peter tells us three important things in this passage. First, we belong to God. He has redeemed us from sin and made us a part of His kingdom. Second, don’t lose your perspective. We cannot afford to accommodate ourselves to the world’s value system. If we do, it will have detrimental effects on us. Third, be different. When I have had the chance to travel to other countries, I always stand out as an American. People can tell. Can people tell that we are citizen’s of God’s kingdom?

            That old song was right. This world is not my home. Although I can adjust to my surrounding, and even feel comfortable in them, I don’t belong here. And neither do you.