Via TJC
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…” – Philippians 3:20
There are unfortunate days we all face, and for me, one day of infamy was when my British friend became a naturalized American citizen. You see, I had made him a promise. I would stop making British jokes, at his expense, if he finally took the oath of allegiance, forsook his Queen, and became a real citizen of the United States of America. He had been in America since he was ten but there’s a difference between living somewhere and being a citizen of that place. He was born in England and his birth there entrusted him with its citizenship, a tacit agreement that the future welfare of both the nation and the citizen were inexorably joined, with the responsibilities of that welfare conferred upon both.
In the same manner, when we are born again through Christ, by the work of the Holy Spirit, we become citizens of a new realm, not in defiance to the citizenship of our natural birth, but in a more profound way, with a citizenship reaching to the outer limits of this new territory: Eternity.
It was an honor to see my friend become an American that day. He bound himself to the country that was enriching him, where his life had taken on new roots, and where his future was springing upward.
Daily Battle Order:
How has your citizenship in the Kingdom impacted the world around you? If Christ has enriched you, to what extent have you given back to His Kingdom and extended its reach? What new responsibilities do you need to look to, as a newborn citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven within a nation the Lord dearly loves?
"not in defiance to the citizenship of our natural birth" Being a Christian does not give us reason to dismiss this land we still exist in! Good stuff!