Introduction. One of the first things you notice when you leave an airport in England, Australia, southern Africa, and many countries in the Far East are cars driving on the “wrong side” of the road. This is “wrong” because by our standards in the United States, one sits on the left side of a car in the right lane, leaving the left lane for oncoming traffic. But by their standards, the steering wheel is on the right side of the car and is driven in the left lane. Terrible accidents are possible if someone reverts to their old standard, driving the “wrong way” in their new country.
Christians face the same danger “for our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20), and we live under its standards. The old standards we learned in this world can become fatal in our new country.
Although we may “call to mind that country from which they had come out,” we must steadfastly refuse to take any “opportunity to return” (Heb. 11:15-16). Now we “desire a better, that is, a heavenly country,” and have become “a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2Cor. 5:17-18).
Christians face the same danger “for our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20), and we live under its standards. The old standards we learned in this world can become fatal in our new country.
- “Do not love the world or the things in the world. For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world” (1Jn. 2:15).
Although we may “call to mind that country from which they had come out,” we must steadfastly refuse to take any “opportunity to return” (Heb. 11:15-16). Now we “desire a better, that is, a heavenly country,” and have become “a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2Cor. 5:17-18).
The need to be on guard. When driving in another country with the steering wheel on the right, all things become new. Turning becomes hazardous since you cross oncoming traffic turning right, but stay in the same lane turning left. The temptation to follow the natural standard places us in the wrong lane, so we must always be on our guard.
In the same way a Christian must “Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” (1Th. 5:21-22). What still “seems right” can quickly become “the ways of death.” “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom. 8:13-14).
So we learn to “trust in the Lord with all our heart” and “not lean on our own understanding” (Pr. 3:5). We “bring every thought into captivity to the obedience to Christ” (2Cor. 10:5), and “put to death your members which are on the earth:” for “because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them” (Col. 3:1-6).
We “no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God,” and even if “they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” (1Pet. 4:2, 4-6).
Moses told Israel “the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day” (Deut. 6:24).
Conclusion. A moment of inattention while driving in a “strange” country and returning to our old standards can kill us. It is exactly the same for a Christian. We are the “aliens and strangers” who must “abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul” (1Pet. 2:11 -NASB).
In the same way a Christian must “Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” (1Th. 5:21-22). What still “seems right” can quickly become “the ways of death.” “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom. 8:13-14).
So we learn to “trust in the Lord with all our heart” and “not lean on our own understanding” (Pr. 3:5). We “bring every thought into captivity to the obedience to Christ” (2Cor. 10:5), and “put to death your members which are on the earth:” for “because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them” (Col. 3:1-6).
We “no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God,” and even if “they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” (1Pet. 4:2, 4-6).
Moses told Israel “the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day” (Deut. 6:24).
Conclusion. A moment of inattention while driving in a “strange” country and returning to our old standards can kill us. It is exactly the same for a Christian. We are the “aliens and strangers” who must “abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul” (1Pet. 2:11 -NASB).