Strangers!

(J. C. Philpot, "Meditations on 1 Peter")

"To God's elect, strangers in the world." 1 Peter 1:1

"I am a stranger with you and a sojourner, as all
 my fathers were." Psalm 39:12

"I am but a stranger here on earth." Psalm 119:19

"They confessed that they were strangers and
 pilgrims on the earth." Hebrews 11:13

The main character of a child of God is that he is a
stranger upon earth. One of the first effects of the
grace of God upon our soul was to separate us from
the world, and make us feel ourselves strangers in it.

The world was once our home--the active, busy center
of all our thoughts, desires, and affections. But when
grace planted imperishable principles of life in our bosom,
it at once separated us from the world in heart and spirit,
if not in actual life and walk. We are strangers inwardly
and experimentally, by the power of divine grace making
this world a wilderness to us.