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“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from [stay away from] fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11).
There is a difference between a stranger and a pilgrim. A stranger is someone who is in a place where he is not at home. Perhaps some of you have been in a foreign country where the customs were different and where people spoke another language. It might have been nice for a visit, but you felt like a stranger there. Maybe people noticed that you were different, and asked you where you were from. A pilgrim, however, is someone who is on his way home. He is not at home, but he knows where he is going, and he has a plan that will take him home.
As Christians, we are both strangers and pilgrims. This world is not our home, but we are definitely on our way home. Because of this, Peter asks the believers to whom he was writing to stay away from fleshly lusts. Fleshly lusts are what our old sinful nature likes to do, and they only hinder us in living for God’s glory. A pilgrim does not get “sidetracked” by things around him; he is anxious to get home, and he does everything possible to get there.
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