“Live here as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you and bless you” (Genesis 26:3a, NLT).

The condition to this promise stood out to me. This is God speaking to Isaac at this point. He was blessed because of his father Abraham’s obedience. Isaac has the blessing confirmed to him that he was to inherit the land and have descendants beyond number.

Our scripture today is a promise to Isaac where God says He will be with Isaac and bless him. What was the condition? To live as a foreigner in the land. Isaac was a sojourner, a wanderer. Abraham lived in tents. He didn’t establish a city and name it after himself. He lived in the land of others. Isaac will do the same. Then all of Israel will end up in Egypt, foreigners again. Then they will wander in the desert. Then they will come into the Promised Land, but they will have to fight to claim it.

What’s the application to us? If we want to live in God’s presence and blessing, we have to live as foreigners. Our citizenship is in heaven, not in this world. We’re called to be in the world, but not of it. We need to be strangers in this world.

If your life isn’t strange in this world, then something is off. We’re to be conformed to Christ, not to the world. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2, NLT).

To walk in God’s ways, we need to walk differently from those around us. Be strange. Be different. Live as a foreigner in the land. Don’t settle for this world. Set your eyes on heavenly places.