United States citizenship is available to anybody, no matter your ethnicity, religion, or country of origin. Therefore, there’s only one thing that really makes a person “American”: the Constitution. Everybody agrees on the set of laws that govern their lives.

In Philippians 3, Paul gets political and introduces us to a new kind of citizenship, a heavenly kind. Throughout the New Testament, the word “body” refers to a society or citizenry of people. The church had a heavenly citizenship, and that came with a radically different set of laws. The pressure from Jewish citizenship, based on circumcision, and Roman citizenship, based on allegiance to Caesar, didn’t make it easy to trust in their heavenly citizenship. Yet, Paul inspires them to “stand firm”!

Trust in your heavenly citizenship. Trust that loving your enemies is better than hating them. Trust that the poor and outcast are indeed blessed. Trust that a life of simple service far exceeds a life of wealthy gain.

Ultimately, trust that Christ will return to redeem our poor attempts at society and make us all true citizens of heaven.

By Blake Tommey from D365