You strange duck
Moving is good for us. It reminds us that we are not from here.
When visiting a foreign country (or the mid-west for that matter), not much is familiar. You’ll discover quickly that you come from a different set of cultural and social rules and have a different understanding of language. They’ll sometimes look at you checking out at WalMart as if you are an alien.
Well, you are.
You are aliens and strangers on this earth.
This is not our Home! Even if you are “from here,” you are not really from here. This is almost painful to say, but I’m not Texan. Not American. Though they both shaped me and I hold both dear to my heart. We aren’t really an Alabaman or Californian or Brazilian or Illinois-ian or Czech Republican.
We are ALIENS.
I am an alien. This is not my permanent residency. I am a stranger here.
All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. -Hebrews 11:13-14 (NLT)
Other versions say that people of faith agreed they were:
- aliens and strangers
- foreigners and strangers (NIV)
- temporary residents, exiles, strangers (AMP)
- sojourners and strangers
- strangers and pilgrims (NKJV)
- foreigners and nomads (NLT)
Stranger. It’s really not a flattering term. “Stranger danger.” If you call someone a stranger, its heavy with caution or degradation.
We may not be from here. But we do belong somewhere. If your faith is in Christ, you belong to a Royal Priesthood, a Kingdom, a Father who is divine and holy. We are now born not just of flesh but of spirit.
For through Christ we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. -Ephesians 2:18-20
And that is good news, strange duck!