Citizens of Heaven
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, (Philippians 3:20)
Webster, defines citizen as “an inhabitant of a city or town, especially one entitled to the rights of a freeman.” As citizens of heaven, we do not have rights, but privileges afforded to us by the grace, mercy, and salvation of our Lord. Earthly rights and heavenly privileges are vastly different.
John 15:19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
What does it mean to be in the world but not of the world? Perhaps while we are physically present in a fallen world we are to be transformed to a spiritual plane where the world does not shape our thoughts, actions, and desires.
I couldn’t possibly say it better than The Message translation, “So here’s what I want you to do. Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:1-2
Citizens of heaven share a bond that transcends even our culture as it connects us as brothers and sisters spiritually reborn into the Family of God.
The View from Peggy’s Pew
Midway Road Church of Christ 