Phil 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Surely everyone has met someone from a different area of the world. If not, maybe you’ve met someone from a different area of the country. What I’m sure you have found is that people from different places talk differently, dress differently, appear differently, and often act differently. It’s easy to point out the Southerners in the crowd based on their twangy accents, just as you can know where someone is from when they wear the attire of their home country. The point is, usually it’s easy to tell where a person is from or at least to know that they are not from your area.

You might also find that people take great pride in their hometown. I have several Tennessee friends who love to tell me about how things are back South and how our idea of a BBQ in Colorado is so messed up. While visiting Oklahoma Christian University, I met a young man from Uganda who was excited to hear that I’d heard of his country and wanted to fill me in on all the details. I was born in Oklahoma but having been raised a Colorado girl I would love to tell you about my beautiful Northern Colorado that I love so much.

We know that people from different places are noticeable and that people are proud of their places of birth and places of citizenship. As Christians, our citizenship may be in Uganda or Tennessee or Colorado, but when we put on Christ in baptism we are born into the Kingdom of God and our citizenship becomes the place that God is preparing for us in Heaven. We need to place a higher importance on our citizenship in Heaven than on any place here in this dying world.

As citizens of Heaven we have a higher calling, but just as foreign people visiting our country, we are different from the people around us. We are foreigners here and it is our job to make sure we are not hiding where our true home is. Do we dress differently than those around us? Do we speak, act, and look differently? Can people tell where we are from, or at the very least that we are different? Do we raise our children to know their true heritage as children of God? Are we a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden (Matt. 5:14)? Are we a light in the dark world? Are we salt to the earth (Matt. 5:13)? Are we a peculiar people (1 Peter 2:9)? Like my Ugandan friend, are we eager to tell others of our home- Heaven? Do we rejoice in the fact that our names are written in Heaven (Luke 10:20)?

Jesus’ disciples could not hide the fact that they had been with Him because the world noticed the way that they spoke.

• Acts 4:13b “Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.”
• Matt 26:71-73 “When he had gone out to the gateway, another servant-girl saw him and said to those who were there, ‘This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.’ And again he denied it with an oath, ‘I do not know the man.’ A little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, ‘Surely you too are one of them; for even the way you talk gives you away.’”

Do you speak like someone who has been with Jesus? Do you live your life in a way that it cannot be denied that you walk with God? As Christians, our doctrine teaches us how to live our lives. If we live according to God’s Word, it will be impossible to hide the fact that we are citizens of Heaven. We will be peculiar to the world around us. They will notice.

You are blessed. You are a citizen of Heaven. Do not try to fit in with this world to the point that no one can tell you are different. Don’t take pride in your home on this earth more than you do in your home in Heaven. Because we are surrounded by the world, we are in danger of fitting in so well that our lights are hidden. Seek to be different yourself and seek to raise children who know what it means to be citizens of Heaven.

I pray that we will let the people around us know that we are not of this world, but that we are foreigners here. Our citizenship is in Heaven where our names are written and our Savior is preparing a place for us.

By Miranda Trujillo
Miranda Trujillo is a 21-year old homeschool graduate and preacher’s kid. She attends Pleasant Valley church of Christ– the church building was her playground growing up. She loves gardening, mixing up herbal potions, feeding middle schoolers (as a lunch lady), blogging and enjoying her family life in the beautiful Pleasant Valley– Bellvue, Colorado.