“We are all aliens & strangers in your sight, as were our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow.” (1 Chronicles 29:15 NIV)
This verse has been stirring me since I read it a few days ago. It has made me realize that we are all travelers. We all are on this journey in life. Each of our journeys are different. Yet we are all traveling through. This world will not be “home” to any of us. Most days we will feel like the square peg trying for the round hole. Just doesn’t work.
“Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens & strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.” (1 Peter 2:11 NIV)
Again we are told that we are aliens & strangers in this world. We live here but will never feel quite fully comfortable here. As we journey through, circumstances will happen in our lives which will reveal sinful desires – greed, revenge, addictions. Notice what they do – they war against your soul, your personality. Those desires will try to warp you into becoming something that God never intended for you to be.
Here’s the thing that really stood out in these verses – “our days on earth are like a shadow.”
Our days will pass so quickly. James 4:14 tells us this as well:
“Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a little mist that appears for a little while & then vanishes.”
As we are faced with challenges each day, may we choose to do the right thing. The hard thing. For we will only need to do the hard thing but for a short while. Our days are like a shadow. A vapor. But we can make their effect last for a lot longer IF we choose to do what pleases Him.
And in so doing the hard thing, we will hear Him, ever so gently whisper, “Well done, thou good & faithful servant.”
