I remember growing up, and whenever my mom got ready to take me somewhere, she'd always say the same thing, "When we get there, you better act like you got some home training." Now to be fair, it really wasn't me she ever had to worry about. It was really my sister. She was known for doing stuff. She would either run off, break something, hurt herself, or do something super crazy, like do cartwheels across the pulpit of the church after service (SMH 🤦♀). Whenever the shenanigans were over, the first thing she'd say was- why do you act like I haven't taught you better? This always blew my mind.
For my sister, it wasn't that she wasn't taught, something about the thrill to her was much more important. When you are a risk-taker, thrill-seeker, or rule-breaker you vibe off a totally different 'energy'. Its the "will I get caught" energy that makes you not represent the place and and people you represent. I don't mean to get "super deep" but I believe the assumption is that if they is from a certain place, with a specific culture, and governing rules, that they will act like those from that place. In this analogy, the 'energy' that separates a person from their home culture is sin. This is what drives people to act like strangers in a foreign land.
The Bible is very clear, as Jesus states numerous times, "this" earthly experience is not our home. He speaks of the place where God the father resides as his home. If God is also our father then, there, is home for us as well. Heaven, is our place of origin to which we are spiritually tethered to through our relationship with Jesus. So then the truth is we are all foreigners in a distant land. So we have been, by default, made to be ambassadors representing our home while away in a foreign land.
This is life is our training ground, with the instruction manual of the Bible to use a navigation reference. Those who succeed are the ones who know it best and believe in the power of the one who inspired it. Whose character, integrity, and will, we follow as a standard for how we are to operate in our home away from home. It is through this same lens that we must understand that people also see us this way. As Christians we stand out. We act like foreigners, and as you know, there's nothing worse than watching a foreigner who is pretending to be a native; it just looks awkward. Be who you are by representing whose you are. Represent your home.