I Am a Sojourner

Like Abraham, I live as a stranger in a foreign land. My citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20) and that final destination is, or should be, my focus.

I refer to the United States as "my country," but only in a very secondary sense. I live here and have legal citizenship, giving me the right to vote and guaranteeing me all the protections and privileges of the Constitution. These are great blessings most of the world's people can't imagine. But I need to keep my sojourner status at the front of my consciousness or I'll be susceptible to several dangers.

The first risk is that I will be assimilated into the surrounding culture, adopting its values and standards. The Greek of Romans 12:2 says, "Stop letting the world press you into its mold." That verbal imagery, drawn from the minting of coins, suggests that society exerts pressure that, if I'm not careful, will conform me to itself. The constant stream of messages I get from the media, the arts, and from others can easily result in an inurement that slowly has me looking increasingly like those I live among.

Another danger is that I will look to my social environment for the provisions and protections that only my Father can provide. Only his hand will keep me secure. Psalm 146:3 warns us, "Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings who cannot save." As recent history has demonstrated, no matter how well equipped and vigilant our country's defense forces may be, evil can always penetrate. My primary care physician is very good, but the Great Physician has control of my physical health, and our financial planner works secondary to our Father who has promised to meet our every need. When God has determined that my sojourn here on earth has come to its end and he calls me to my true home no power on earth can delay that event for a single moment. In the same way, no one can cause my "untimely death." My physical life, as my spiritual life, rests entirely in God's care.

A third risk of forgetting my status as a foreigner is that I will expect those among whom I live to understand, accept, or even support biblical standards for living. The Bible says the ways of this world are consistent with the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient" (Eph. 2:3). Our country's history over the last 50 years is one of rapidly increasing secularization that, it can be reasonably expected, will eventually result in open hostility to biblical values and standards. This should not surprise us. If it does we are dangerously naive and have probably fallen prey to the second danger mentioned above; we've expected the government to protect us from moral decay.

It is in this light that I receive last week's Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage. The logic of the majority is as irrelevant as the constitutionality of their decision. Their action, like other recent steps taken by civil government, are consistent with a secular zeitgeist that disregards biblical truth and God's design. I am disappointed and troubled, but not surprised. This is what, as a sojourner, I should expect.

My response to their ruling?
I am called to be salt and light in my world, having what influence I can for righteousness. I do so not because I want to impose my views on those among whom I live - I am, after all, a foreigner in their midst - but because I believe God's design and will is "good and perfect" (Rom. 12:2) bringing the blessings of peace and tranquility for individuals and relationships. Accordingly, my influence must be gracious, not aggressive or combative in any way. So I will vote in ways that promote God's design and will, I will seek to gently persuade others, and I will try in every circumstance to model that life of obedience so they can see its fruit in me. In short, I will try to be the perfect guest.

It seems that many of my fellow sojourners have lost sight of our real citizenship, as evidenced by their outrage at the Court's decision. It's as though they're shocked that the world acts consistent with its...worldliness. Instead, I think we've been provided with an opportunity to check our orientation - which citizenship do we see as overriding? - and be reminded that those among whom we live have no better guide than their own sin-affected "wisdom."

Here, then, is another opportunity to stand firmly on biblical teaching, unswayed by the world's values, to trust God for preserving me no matter what the future brings, and to model grace as I live in obedience and in love seek to persuade others (2 Cor. 5:11).