DAY 60 - CITIZENS OF HEAVEN
ANDREW MATRONE, YA MINISTRY LEAD
“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ…” Philiipians 3:20
Is it just me, or have the past few months been absolutely crazy… like SO crazy. It seems like every passing day, things just get a little crazier. I’m not one to be pessimistic about the world we live in, but right now, our world feels a little more uncertain and a little more broken than I can ever remember. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve just stared out the front window of my house and said to my wife, “what planet are we living on?” She hasn’t responded in a while…
I was talking to a mentor of mine this week and I was complaining about our world and having a total cry-fest (am I the only one? cool). He listened, as all good mentors do and when I was done, he paused for a moment and then said to me, “it sounds like you’re putting a lot of hope in a world that was never meant to bring you hope.” Dang… He was right. I’ve been expecting our broken world to not act broken… I’ve been expecting broken people to not act broken… I’ve been expecting a lost world to bring hope... I’ve been expecting a world to be for me what it was never meant to be!
You know, when you read through scripture, the bible is extremely clear about our life as it relates to this planet. Here are a few:
James 1:14 - What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Hebrews 13:14 - For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.
John 17:16 - They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
I’ve come to remember in this season that the planet we’re living on is the planet that is our temporary home. Scripture in various occasions even calls us aliens and strangers of this world. Your life on this earth is short, but your life in Christ is eternal. In other words, your citizenship is not here on earth, but in heaven, which 1 Peter 1:4 says is an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.
So, what does this mean for you right now? Well, I’ll say to you what my mentor said to me… stop putting your hope in a world that was never meant to bring you hope, because this world is not your home. God put us on this earth for a very specific purpose, to KNOW HIM and to MAKE HIM KNOWN (Mark 5:19). Until you do that, you’ll be constantly wandering… Therefore, our joy, peace, strength, confidence will be found when we follow that purpose and nothing else.
Your life on this earth is fleeting, but heaven is eternal. Don’t be tossed by every wave the world throws at you. This world will confuse you, frustrate you, distract you and ultimately take your eyes off of this eternal purpose that God placed you on this earth for. Keep your eyes focused on the eternal glory that has been set before you. As Paul said in Philippians, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the UPWARD CALL of God in Jesus Christ.
Praying for you today!