Encouraging Truths Devotional Series (Day #16)
Your Permanent Citizenship and Home is in Heaven … Live and Think Like It (Php 3:20)
When you were saved, God adopted you as His child and made you a member of His household and the Kingdom of Christ.
So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. (Eph 2:19-20)
He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. (Col 1:13)
You are now a legal citizen of Heaven:
Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Php 3:20)
You are no longer a citizen of the world by of God’s Kingdom. You are here as assignment as His ambassador (2 Cor 5:20) … temporary assignment. Someday you will go home to His Kingdom, your eternal home but in the meantime Jesus is building you an eternal home in Heaven in which to live (Jn 14:2-3).
Since your permanent home is in Heaven; your citizenship is in Heaven; your Father is in Heaven; and you are part of God’s Kingdom of Heaven, don’t live or think as a citizen of this horrible place called earth … you are simply passing through.
These (Abraham, Enoch, Abel, Noah … etc) all died in faith without having received the promises, but they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. (Heb 11:13-16)
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Pet 2:11-12 – NASB)
Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. (1 Pet 1:17 – NIV)
Here’s a glimpse of what is awaiting you after your assignment here is over.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away. Then the One seated on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” (Rev 21:4-5)
He then carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, arrayed with God’s glory. Her radiance was like a very precious stone, like a jasper stone, bright as crystal … The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone … The 12 gates are 12 pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The broad street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. I did not see a sanctuary in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its sanctuary. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because God’s glory illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb. (Rev 21:10-23)
Then he showed me the river of living water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the broad street of the city. The tree of life was on both sides of the river, bearing 12 kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His slaves will serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. Night will no longer exist, and people will not need lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign forever and ever. (Rev 22:1-5)
Live with your eyes focused on your eternal home.
So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. (Col 3:1-2)
Think about it…
Do you think and live more as a citizen of Heaven or earth?
In what ways do you think too much like a permanent citizen of earth? Why?
How do you think you can focus more on eternity in that area?
Be on the lookout tomorrow for the next Encouraging Truth from this devotional series.