{"id":12728,"date":"2026-05-03T20:10:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T20:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/?page_id=12728"},"modified":"2026-05-03T20:19:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T20:19:25","slug":"a-resident-alien-thursday-may-7-2026","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/a-resident-alien-thursday-may-7-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"A Resident Alien – Thursday, May 7, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world \u2013 John 17:16<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Unwilling to deal with a new annoyance, Rachel makes a trip to the condo management office and finds a sign on the counter:\u00a0 Will return shortly<\/strong>. Rachel takes a seat and overhears a conversation coming from another room.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI can\u2019t believe it\u2019s been nearly a week without a complaint from her,\u201d followed by \u201cYou would think as a Christian she would understand that she\u2019s living in an imperfect world.\u201d With a deep sigh, Rachel gets up and begins to walk out just as a staff member appears and greets, \u201cSorry for the wait, can I help you?\u201d \u00a0\u201cYou have. I had forgotten that I\u2019m not in Heaven yet,\u201d Rachel responded.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re\u00a0a resident alien.<\/em> \u00a0This thought came to mind from reading Philippians 3:20, where the ESV (English Standard Version) states: “But our citizenship is in heaven.\u201d It confirmed my conclusion after debating over a recurring issue in the neighborhood. However, if reported, it would likely prove to be a temporary remedy, which has happened in similar cases.\u00a0 Therefore, I must adjust how I handle current and future incidents.\u00a0 I need to remember that, as a resident of this world, I must live accordingly; yet I am, nevertheless, an alien, not of this world, and must keep my mind on my eternal home.<\/p>\n

Acknowledging one\u2019s temporary existence on this Earth doesn\u2019t preclude taking steps when necessary; rather, it requires seeking discernment between knowing when to engage in civil proactivity and when to administer grace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world \u2013 John 17:16 Unwilling to deal with a new annoyance, Rachel makes a trip to the condo management office and finds a sign on the counter:\u00a0 Will return shortly. Rachel takes a seat and overhears a conversation coming from another room.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “A Resident Alien – Thursday, May 7, 2026”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12728","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12728"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12734,"href":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12728\/revisions\/12734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}