A Christian’s Dual Citizenship
As an American I understand the logic behind the rapid changes happening in my country. Whether I like them or not, they are understandable results of a modernized Western nation steeped in individualism and wealth.
People confuse privileges and wants with rights. We hear people speaking the language of rights, but it’s often times more an issue of getting what they want. Same-sex marriage is a glaring case in point. But people also do all kinds of sexually immoral things that are legal. And yes, according to the Constitution and it’s amendments, it can be construed that they have their rights to what they want.
Western culture has changed so much, and is changing so rapidly, that one can hardly imagine any kind of final authority on anything. A reference point, if there is one, is continually shifting. Hardly confidence inducing.
I’m not going to bash anyone. I will rather remember who I follow, which determines who I am.
As a follower of Jesus, I know that according to Philippians 3:20 that I am a citizen of Heaven. That means as long as I live on earth, I carry dual citizenship.
Certain things may be legal, and may be accepted in this country where I live. But I am first of all a citizen of heaven, and it’s not an ever-changing democracy. It’s a monarchy.
I don’t bash my King’s Word over other people’s heads, but I do strive to live by it. That means that people like me strive to live by a standard different from that around us. A standard that lifts us to a higher level. We don’t get tangled up in politics and every issue that comes along. We seek to live above that.
On one hand we live by God’s standard of holiness, which has no place for much of the nonsense going on.
On the other hand we fall short of that standard far more often than we’d hope. Thus we are humble and hungry recipients of God’s grace. With it we do not point; we embrace. And we extend that grace to the very people making all the crazy changes. Because when we’re honest, we know that we’re no better. We’re different because we’ve received grace, and we choose, however falteringly, to live by it.
