“Uncomfortable With The Culture” is August 9’s morning entry from Dr. David Jeremiah’s ‘Turning Points with God: 365 Daily Devotions’.
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Romans 11:2
It has happened more than once. Missionaries leave the United States and, in time, become more comfortable in a foreign land than in their native country. They give various reasons: “It’s quieter,” “less materialism,” “less peer pressure on our children,” “the people are more receptive to the gospel.” When they return to America to visit, they talk about “returning home” in a new way–they’ve exchanged their old home for a new one.
That’s what it means to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God. Paul says our “citizenship is in heaven,” not in this world (Philippians 3:20). That’s why, over time, Christians begin to feel more and more out of place with the cultures of this world, why when they speak of “going home” they are referring to God’s eternal Kingdom.
When we exchange our earthly home for our Kingdom home is up to God. In the interim, our job is to so walk in the Spirit that we aren’t “conformed to this world,” that we aren’t squeezed into the world’s mold, as Bible translator J. B. Phillips put it. When you leave home today, let it remind you of where your true home is–in Christ Jesus, now and for eternity.
To end, a quote from Vance Havner, “If you stand on the Word, you do not stand in with the world.”
