Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us (I Peter 2:12).

Peter was writing to Kingdom of God people living “…as aliens and strangers in the world” (v.11).

That’s us. We once felt at home in the world. Now, with our new identity, we have a new perspective. Now the ways of the world seem downright foreign to us. And ours seem downright foreign to them.

Our way of living here now will not be to judge these citizens or to fall back into their ways. It will be to bombard them with radical Holy Spirit-enabled love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

During my senior year of college, I was part of a group which spent a term in Sierra Leone, West Africa. We were there to co-teach with local educators in their classrooms.

Upon arrival we neophytes were warmly received. I realize there is a lot of history—much of it not good—that could account for that. Gradually, though, we saw there was an up-to-date reason that made their welcome genuine rather than forced. 

It was the era of the fledgling Peace Corps and its British equivalent, the VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas).

The on-the-ground VSO teams had been respectful and helpful, thereby gaining the locals’ trust and friendship. When we showed up—looking like the VSO folks and ready to serve—we found the VSO’s status being conferred on us. 

In a similar way, if the citizens we encounter here in the kingdom of the world have formerly experienced Jesus’ genuine presence in other believers, our presence will likely be welcomed. If they have experienced a distorted representation of His presence, they will likely need time to develop trust. 

There will be times the world accuses us of doing wrong. After all, our cultural identity is tied to a Kingdom not of this world that has Radically Good Ways taught by a Radically Good King. Citizens of the world may need to experience—or at least observe—the effect of those actions so they can recognize the positive impact they have.

The fact is, the way the church has lived in the world in the past impacts the way it is viewed by the world today. The way the church lives in the world today will impact the way it is viewed by the world tomorrow. We have a part to play in that legacy.

If all of us, living out our real identities, did one radically good thing today, we would be contributing to the legacy our King wants us to have.