CITIZENS OF HEAVEN

I’m a citizen of heaven

Where finally I’ll be free.

And I won’t forget the One who died

To give that gift to me.

So I’ll gladly stand up next to you

And declare His love today.

For there is no doubt I love my Lord,

The Life, the Truth, the Way.

“But our citizenship is in heaven.

And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control,

will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

Philippians 3:20-21

pŏlitĕuma⁴¹⁷⁵ – a community, i.e. (abstr.) citizenship (fig.): - conversation.

tapĕinōsis⁵⁰¹⁴ – depression (in rank or feeling): - humiliation, be made low, low estate, vile.

            After pointing out the way those who do not know the Lord live in the previous two verses, Paul contrasts that with the position of the those who are saved.  If we have surrendered our lives to Jesus and have trusted him to take us to heaven, our citizenship is already there.

            My parents lived in England for five years. Daddy worked at an air force base there, and mother was a homemaker in an old farmhouse off base. However, their citizenship was still in the United States of America and, more specifically, in the state of Texas.  Living in a foreign country did not change the fact that they belonged to and paid taxes to the USA. In the same way, we live as aliens here on earth while maintaining our citizenship in heaven. And as my parents eagerly awaited Dad’s transfer back to Texas, we have great expectation for the day we will finally go home to the place Christ has prepared for us.

            Not only has Jesus prepared a perfect place for us to live; but when we get home, we will no longer struggle with a body prone to sin and death. The temptation of selfish desires will no longer plague us because we will be given a glorious body and finally be made to be like Christ. My uncle who suffers from constant back pain said he sure hoped heaven would be flat to make it easy to walk; but I told him with his new body, he might just be able to bounce from place to place. We really don’t know specifics about our life in heaven, but I do know this…if the Lord says it will be glorious, I don’t need to worry about the particulars because it will far exceed any expectation I may have.

            Father, thank you for the assurance not only of a heavenly home, but of a perfected body as well. What a glorious day it will be when we are finally in our homeland forever!