Written by Michelle J. Goff, Founder and Executive Director of Iron Rose Sister Ministries
Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1Pe 1:17-19 NIV)
In the following chapter, the apostle Peter encourages his friends, the people of God, to live their lives as foreigners and exiles (1Pe 2:11). Sinful desires surround us, bombard us, implore us, distract us, confuse us, and wear us down. However, they also attack in much more subtle and deceptive ways.
While living as a foreigner in another country, especially at the beginning, it was immediately obvious what belonged to the local culture and what belonged to my home country. Confronted by my own cultural biases, I was forced to step outside my comfort zone. It was a challenge to determine when I was clinging to my own perspective, which areas were uncomfortable simply because they were different, and what things were based on a goal of Kingdom living.
Prayer was my lifeline for support and guidance. I did not navigate things perfectly, at all. As
time passed, I assimilated into the local culture and became less attentive to identifying any important distinctions. I needed to be intentional about striving to live not as a North American foreigner in a South American country, but rather as a redeemed Christian foreigner, living in this perishable, broken world.
Our time here on earth is short, a vapor or a mist (Jas 4:14). We are merely a dot on the length of a timeline. Kingdom time and Kingdom living keep the trajectory of our lives and how we live them in perspective.
Kingdom time “makes the most of every opportunity” (Col 4:5).
Kingdom living has a “mind governed by the Spirit” (Ro 8:6).
Kingdom time beats to the rhythm of eternity that He has set in the human heart (Ecc 3:11).
Kingdom living dies to self and lives for Christ (Lk 9:23-24; Gal 2:20).
Kingdom time goes and makes “disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that [Jesus] commanded you. And behold, [He is] with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt 28:19-20).
Kingdom living “walks by faith, not by sight” (2Co 5:7 ESV).
Sisters, may we remember and proclaim, “I’m a foreigner living on Kingdom time.”
How are you going to use your Kingdom time to be all about Kingdom living?