I haven't blogged since fall of 2015! Slower internet, language study, mentoring responsibilities, and monthly email updates took the place of that former blogging time.
But I want to start up again, and today I have something to say.
My home fellowship has been focusing on 1 Peter, threading through the book the idea of "exile." But the definition of exile has been bothering me. A lot of emphasis is placed on "shifting culture" and these "culture wars" are supposed to make you feel in exile. But that definition of exile is incorrect, I think. You don't become an exile because of shifting cultural values around you--you ARE an exile because you're not in your home country. You're fundamentally homesick, and that longing for another place is what defines an exile, not the opposition of people in an exiled land.
1 Kings 11:14-22 tells the story of Hadad, one of Solomon's two adversaries the Lord raised up. He had to go to Egypt because of his opposition to Solomon. He married into Pharaoh's royal family and had every comfort and privilege possible there, and was very well treated by the Egyptians. But he longed for home. Pharaoh asked him, "What do you lack here that makes you want to go home?" "Nothing," he replied. "But even so, please let me return home."
We need to remember that we are exiles. We are NOT in exile because of shifting culture around us. We are in exile because all humanity has rebelled against the King. In His great mercy He has accepted us back as subjects, but the kingdom isn't fully here yet. Exile is not necessarily uncomfortable, nor does it imply disapproval from everyone around us. In fact, exiles are able to survive because those around them ARE kind and welcoming to them, like Pharaoh towards Hadad, or Russia toward Edward Snowden, or Turkey/Lebanon/Jordan/Germany towards the Syrian refugees. Even in the best of circumstances (like Hadad in Egypt) we are fundamentally homesick, and that longing is what makes us exiles.
Faith is what puts us into exile. Moses felt this as he rejected Egypt's pleasures for the true King's reward. Abraham felt this as he lived in tents (although wealthy and accepted by those around him) because he was looking forward to an eternal city. Ruth turned her back on her own homeland because she wanted to find a true home with the people of Israel and their God. Believers in Peter's day weren't longing for a return to the earthly Jerusalem but for the coming of the Kingdom of the Savior.
So when you're told how to live as an exile, remember that the exile is NOT due to the opposition of culture around you--this world has never been the place where you are at home, even in America of 1953. 1 Peter was still true of believers in America of 1953, just like it was during the Roman empire and just like it is now in 2017 for any believer anywhere. We are exiled because our citizenship is in Heaven, and when the Savior comes back, only then will we be at home. In the meantime, let's continue to long for that day, while we work to keep kingdom values in our life and declare the praises of the King to everyone around us.
