Feeling Like an Exile
1 Peter 1:1-2 Greetings from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. To God’s chosen people who are away from their homes—people scattered all over the areas of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. God planned long ago to choose you and to make you his holy people, which is the Spirit’s work. God wanted you to obey him and to be made clean by the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I pray that you will enjoy more and more of God’s grace and peace.
It’s not at all uncommon to feel, in a sense, untethered in life – as though you’re not where you’re meant to be. Something’s not quite right but it’s this surreal feeling of displacement. Have you ever felt that?
According to the United Nations’ refugee agency, UNHCR, there are 44 million refugees in the world today. And that’s just part of a broader displacement crisis, with over 122 million people worldwide forced to flee their homes through persecution, conflict and violence. Just imagine being one of those refugees, uprooted from your home, your community, your security.
But without in any way diminishing the suffering of those people, there are still many more, apparently safe and secure at home, who yet feel displaced, lost, with the very foundations of their world being shaken … which makes this 1st century letter from the Apostle Peter so very poignant still today:
1 Peter 1:1-2 Greetings from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. To God’s chosen people who are away from their homes—people scattered all over the areas of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. God planned long ago to choose you and to make you his holy people, which is the Spirit’s work. God wanted you to obey him and to be made clean by the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I pray that you will enjoy more and more of God’s grace and peace.
When you feel like a refugee, like an exile, it’s easy to imagine that God’s forsaken you. Yet here Peter’s writing to God’s chosen people scattered far and wide, praying His grace and peace over their lives.
Friend, God will never forsake you. Never! Hold onto that.
Because that’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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