Do you ever feel like you don't belong here? Are there times where you say something and people look at you as though you've grown another head!? Do you ever listen to a lecturer or Pastor and everyone else is nodding or look like they understand what's being said and you have no clue what they are on about? Do you ever feel like an alien in your own house?
Living as an alien was the theme of the night service I preached at last night. The idea came mainly from 1 Peter 2:11-12 "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." (NIV 1984 version)
Of course the word alien conjures up all sorts of images and it makes me think of movies and TV series that have shaped my understanding of aliens ;-)When I asked my youngest daughter to draw a picture of an alien she had a green blob with tentacle type feet, several eyes and a couple of antennas. It apparently left a trail of green slime behind it when it moved. I think anyone looking at it would have recognised it as an alien. However, as the people of God we are also aliens, and I would think that any one of us could confidently say we aren't green and two eyes would be the most you would find on our faces. As aliens it is not so much what we look like but how we live that sets us apart. We don't conform to the world and accept what the world accepts. We know that we are just moving through this world before going to our real home with God. As visitors we don't have to say yes to everything that is offered to us. Infact it is because of God's grace that we can say no. Titus 2:11-14 says "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good." (NIV 1984)We may get some odd looks or some strange comments when we say no but it's something we need to be able to do.
The one thing I have noticed from Scifi movies and TV shows is the need to report back or journal the experiences. E.T. wanted to "Phone home", In the series Mork and Mindy, at the end Mork would say "Mork calling Orson, come in Orson" or Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek - The Next Generation would journal his experiences by marking it with a star-date... In 1977 NASA sent out a type of time capsule that had recorded many things about earth, the people, animals, plants, science,greetings in many different languages and even different eras of music. Not only would it tell intelligent alien life forms about earth but it would also be a legacy for the people of earth. As aliens, what would we want to tell future generations about us? What have we already put out into space which tells people who we are? If we were to collect our facebook statuses or tweets would that give people a true reflection of Christian life? If we recorded our conversations with our friends or spouses and put them in a time capsule would that tell people about our faith? What would you want to put in a time capsule to explain what it was like to live as an alien on earth?
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