War Against

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. ~ 1 Peter 2:11

This world we live in is so contradictory to how we are supposed to live according to God's word that sometimes I do feel like an exiled alien just waiting to return home.  There are so many ways to sin in this broken world and a lot of the temptations are so neatly packaged and disguised in the name of "fun".  These little "fun packages" are meant to distract us from our final destination and meant to destroy our souls spiritually, our bodies physically and our minds mentally.  But through the Holy Spirit we need to stand our ground and show God's love and turn from the wicked ways of this world.  First, we need to remember that this is not our home, nor our final destination.  We are children of the Most High and we need to be ready for the spiritual battles that lay ahead of us.  We are not home; we are only visiting for a short time and have work to do.  Transformation has hopefully changed our goals and opened our eyes to the fact that we are holy royal priesthood.  We need to be able to identify what is from God and what is from the flesh and worldly desires.  We need to stand strong and turn from our flesh and show compassion to those who the world still have a grip on.  And we need to be careful not to fit in, but we should stand out with such love and kindness that our testimony and lifestyle may help others and stir them to want to turn their lives over to the Lord Almighty.  We have a difficult task in front of us, but one that has great eternal rewards; we are called to live a contradictory life from the wayward worlds.  Hold tight and steadfast!  Lord, help me to live according to your ways and help me to be a beacon of light to others.  Help me to remember this is not my home and help me live and love in such a way that it brings you great glory.  ~ Amen