While in Exile

While in Exile is the personal blog of Drew Dixon who also writes on Elect Exiles blog.

Let me tell you a little about this blog, starting with 1 Peter 2:11-12:

“Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

Peter calls Christians “aliens and strangers” because this earth is not their final home, they don’t belong here, they have been chosen by God (1 Peter 1:1), they have been born again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead! This new birth in the spirit changes everything for the Christian. Thus Peter can describe Christians as “elect exiles” awaiting a day when they will witness Christ bringing in the new heavens and the new earth (2 Peter 3:13). In the meantime it is the “elect exiles” new purpose to “proclaim the excellencies of Christ” (1 Peter 2:8-9). As believers, this earth is not our final home, thus this blog is dedicated to thinking and discussing how we can best live for the glory of Jesus while in exile.

1 Peter 2:11-12 presents a command to Christians to both fight sin and live purely before the unbelieving world. It is a text that addresses how we are to live in the world and yet stick out from the world.

Thus in this blog I hope to focus on the problem that faces all people, the most devastating problem of all–the problem of sin and the separation from God that it causes (Isaiah 59:2). I also want to focus on the gospel that gives hope to hopeless sinners like you and me. Christians are constantly faced with the charge to be fighting sin and putting it to death (Romans 8:13). Thus this blog will be a place where man’s most dire problem will be addressed as well as the one solution to man’s problem–the gospel.

I also hope to address how we are to live pure lives among the unbelievers around us in hopes that they will glorify God on the day of visitation. In other words, how can we magnify Jesus by living out the gospel in our day to day lives.

I want “While in Exile” to be a place where Christians can come and talk about what it means to be a follower of Jesus in world that increasingly does not understand us, but more than that I want this blog to be a place where Christians are challenged to live such excellent lives among unbelievers that some will glorify God on the day of visitation.

“While in Exile” is a place where I will do my best to apply the Word of God to our everyday lives. We are no better than the demons (James 2:19) if we merely know God’s Word but fail to put it into practice!

I will also from time to time address issues that arise in our culture that are worth addressing with the gospel of Jesus Christ. From time to time I may even share art that has challenged me or made me think. Whatever I do, I hope to do it as a Christian and to encourage Christians in the process.

I may, in the future, ask some important people in my life to post on this blog.

And of course you are invited to join the conversation–Yes you are invited, especially if you are an “alien and a stranger” in this world, join in and let’s think about what it means to live for the glory of God for the short time that we live on this earth!