But our citizenship is in heaven. –Philippians 3:20a (NIV)
I was 4 years old. I stood with my daddy in front of the ice cream truck and when he said, "Jonny, you can have anything you want," my mouth opened wide, my eyes doubled in size, my hands started to sweat, and my head thumped with every rapidly increasing hear beat. I knew, with the trust only children possess, a trust without doubt, without question, without hesitation... I knew one thing.
Because my daddy had the power to get me whatever ice cream I wanted and HE was the one who spoke those words, I really could have any ice cream bar I wanted. Words cannot describe my joy in that moment, the exquisiteness of my expectation, the awesomeness of my anticipation, my giddy eagerness.
The words in Philippians 3:20 are from your true daddy–NOT your earthly daddy who may have kept many promises or only a few but your true daddy who is truly trustworthy. Your daddy who loves you and whose loving power defines the very makeup of reality is telling you, “You are a citizen of heaven.” What does this mean?
Citizenship is about what defines us and our value. The Philippians who were Roman citizens thought they had some great advantage over other church members who weren’t, but God invites them into a new citizenship that can unify and give an “eagerly awaiting” (Philippians 3:20b) hope. Over the course of my life, I’ve identified with all sorts of things God wants to redefine.
“My citizenship is in…
how productive I am.
what people think of me.
the United States and the choices of our leaders.
how things are going in my community, job, family.
how my day is going.”
To each, God replies, “Your citizenship is in heaven.”
Whatever you face in this life, let your question be, “How does the fact that I am actually a citizen of heaven instead of this broken world change the way I will affect, and be affected by, this situation?” I invite you to trust as a child and hold on for the ice cream.
– Pastor Jonny Moor