“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” (Phil 3:20-21)
These verses are used often to illustrate where our true home is at, and that our time here on earth is temporary. Whatever country we are from, our true citizenship is in heaven.
Notice that Paul is using the present tense here, not the future tense. Once we made the decision to follow Christ, we were issued spiritual passports.
But what was happening in and around Rome when Paul wrote this? Why was the concept of citizenship something he felt the readers of his letter would relate to? It was a picture the Philippians could understand. Philippi was a Roman colony. Here and there at strategic military centers the Romans set down their colonies. In such places the citizens were mostly soldiers who had served their time–twenty-one years–and who had been rewarded with full citizenship. The great characteristic of these colonies was that, wherever they were, they remained fragments of Rome. Roman dress was worn; Roman magistrates governed; the Latin tongue was spoken; Roman justice was administered; Roman morals were observed. Even in the ends of the earth they remained unshakably Roman. (Most of the information for this paragraph came from www.studylight.org)
Paul is illustrating that just like the Roman’s never forgot they belonged to Rome, we need to remember that we are citizens of heaven. Our attitude, conduct and thoughts must match our citizenship.
While we can and should enjoy our temporary citizenship on earth this is a good reminder to me to never forget where the end of the journey will be taking us, and that we are already citizens!
A little girl was taking an evening walk with her father. She looked up at the starry sky and exclaimed “Oh, Daddy, if the wrong side of heaven is so beautiful, what must the right side be!” (Charles L. Allen in Home Fires)
We are not citizens of this world trying to get to heaven, but we are citizens of heaven making our way through this world.
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