Two Kingdoms

Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

1 Peter 2:11-17

God doesn't force you to do anything or go anywhere.

Even in the midst of the war against the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life (1 John 2:16), we still have the ability to do good. On the day of visitation, all the accusations against you will drop away and only what glorifies God will remain. In this world, there will be an abundance of accusations and evil intentions done towards you, but by doing good, you will silence those voices. God doesn’t force evil doers to do bad to test you and He doesn’t force you to do good, but He uses your good actions to make those who accuse you look foolish. The one who accuses you the most is Satan, and he will be made the most foolish by accusing you when God has already set you free. 

You can only be free if you are serving God. 

When you are a bondservant of God, you live under the rules of His Kingdom. And yet, you live in the foreign land of this world. The rules of the kingdom of this world are: temptation, sin, accusation and death while the rules of God’s Kingdom are: freedom, doing good, imputed innocence and life. As you use your freedom to live in this world, Satan will tempt you to use your freedom as a cloak (epikalumma is used for the covering of the tabernacle see Ex. 26:14 and 36:19—Septuagent) to hide evil actions. He will use your freedom as anything else to draw you into the temptation, sin, accusation, death system of his kingdom. Satan’s accusations against you will continue, but you can be free if you are serving God.

Either you are free or you might as well be dead.

Since you are only a sojourner and pilgrim in this world, the battles you fight here only matter in how they relate to God’s Kingdom. If you center yourself on temptations (either failing or overcoming), then you are living in the kingdom of death. If you center yourself on freedom, then you will be living in God’s Kingdom of life. When Satan comes to accuse you, God will reply, "yes, I already know about that, but see, I paid for it here at the cross." And when Satan points out that your good deeds aren't enough, God will say, "you're right, but I made up for that with the extra life I gave at the resurrection." Living in Satan’s kingdom will have you constantly fighting his accusations; living in God’s Kingdom will give you freedom and life.