Strangers...Chosen By God

Good morning Immanuel. All Christians are strangers on earth, but in the culture of heaven, we are always wanted.

“To those who are elect exiles” (1 Peter 1:1).

Photo by Deva Darshan on Unsplash

Most of us weren’t born in Nashville. Many of us aren’t from the south, and a number of us are not even from the USA. But all of us are strangers here—exiles. Even a Christian who’s a lifelong Nashvillian is a stranger here. What makes this so is what Peter draws attention to as he opens this letter. All Christians are strangers on planet Earth. However culturally familiar our location may or may not be, we don’t truly belong. Our faith in Jesus means we don’t fully fit in. The cultural grain around us cuts across the ways of Christ. 

That can be painful. We don’t share all the values, get all the jokes, win all the prizes, and want all that is offered. We can find ourselves unwanted, mocked, ostracized, and worse.  

But we’re not just exiles—we’re elect exiles. God has chosen us. He determined to have us. In the culture of heaven, we are always wanted, always at home, always involved, and never alone. We find ourselves abiding in the heart of God himself. We might never have been chosen for anything in our lives before, but God chose us, and he meant to. It wasn’t a mix-up: you are his because he wanted to have you. So as we feel our exile-ness, we can take comfort in our elect-ness.