Citizen of Heaven

For our citizenship is in heaven; from which also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. ~Philippians 3:20

Imagine that your job was to be an ambassador to an impoverished foreign country. Your sole and express purpose for living among the people there was to share the truth of a better land and of a better life that is available to them, and to offer them a free ticket and free citizenship to your country. If you knew that the people of that country were forming their opinion of your homeland based solely on their experience and impression of you, how would you conduct yourself and what would be your daily focus and purpose?

Would you spend your time there focused on your own prosperity? Would you make certain that first and foremost you had all of the toys and comforts for yourself and for your family even if those around whom you were living had very little or none? If your mission is to offer them a free ticket to your country, would you instead involve yourself heavily in their political system and focus your effort on trying to change their government and their society to fall in line with your moral values and ideals? As a foreign emissary, your job would not be to focus on your own needs nor would it be to become involved in their political system. Your job would be to focus on the needs of the individual people around you and to care for their needs.

When Jesus came to this earth He gave up the majesty and the glory of His eternal throne in heaven in order to become nothing so as to save and to redeem us (Philippians 2:5-8). When asked about the local political system in which He found Himself, He simply said to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto God what is God's (Mark 12:17). He didn't allow Himself to become distracted by temporal human political concerns. Neither did He focus on providing for His own comforts but instead had no place to lay His head (Luke 9:58) and instructed His followers to lay up their treasures in heaven and not on earth (Matthew 6:19-21).

If you call yourself a Christian, or better yet, a disciple of Christ, then you are no longer a citizen of whatever earthly country you happen to reside in, but your citizenship is in heaven. You are an ambassador during your short time here on Earth. Most of us go through our lives forgetting this fact. We focus all of our energy trying to make our way here in our earthly lives living no differently than those who are spiritually impoverished all around us when we should be living with the express purpose of shining the light and love of Christ to those who so desperately need it.

What small thing can you do today to reach out as an ambassador to someone around you who needs to hear of your home country and of the loving King that is waiting there to welcome them home?

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ... striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you.  ~Philippians 1:27-28


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