"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion,..elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ...." (1 Peter 1:1)
The NASB translates our text, "to those who reside as aliens." The Amplified says, "to the elect exiles of the dispersion scattered." That is what we are--- "aliens--the dispersion scattered." One of the root words for, "dispersion," means, "to sow throughout, i.e., distribute in foreign lands." Most of us are living in the country of our origin. Most of us travel very little beyond our birth place. But whether we are living in the town in which we grew up, or living in a foreign land, we need to see ourselves as "aliens, sown throughout foreign lands."
I have often said that a Believer in Jesus Christ has, by birthright, possession of the earth. "The earth is the Lord's," we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are "joint heirs" with Jesus, so "the earth is" ours. Yet we are a minority. There is a very real sense in which we are the scattered "aliens" in the earth. Many experience it frequently, some right in their own homes. People don't or won't understand you. They don't understand your faith, your confidence, your life style, and it is all because they refuse to understand your Jesus.
We have been given an assignment. Our text says that we are the "elect," which means, "by implication, favorite." We are to live as favorite sons throughout the earth, not proud, or parading our sonship, but humble, knowing that our election is "according to the foreknowledge (forethought) of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." The Believers in Jesus who realize and walk in the last part of our text will rightly represent Jesus in "the dispersion" where they have been sown.
Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to always remember Whom I represent and why. Amen.
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