Citizenship

For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: - Philippians 3.20

This world is a mess – truly. The last couple of weeks have shown us how quickly fear and panic can take over the world. While we are wise to use common sense when things like the Covid19 virus happen, we are not wise to go into panic mode. I preached last Sunday from 2 Timothy 1.7 where God tells us that He has not given us a spirit of fear, but instead of power and love and a sound mind.

We can only live that way if we have the right state of mind. We have to remember that this world is not our home. Our true home is heaven. As scary as things might be here this is not all there is.

It is our responsibility to live in this world like citizens of another world. While we are here we represent heaven. Sure, we have to live here and we are bound to respect and obey human laws and certain rules of behaviour, but we also have a much higher calling.

I constantly have to ask myself if I am living in a way that shows people my heavenly citizenship. When visitors come to Ireland it is pretty easy to tell where most of them are from because they can act very stereotypically. You can usually pick out an American or a German or an Englishman tourist by their actions and attitudes even without an accent.

People ought to be able to say about us ‘there is something different about him’ by our actions and our attitudes. As citizens of heaven we ought to reflect our King and our kingdom. We are ambassadors for Christ. Let’s act like it.