Citizenship and Relationship

“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:” (Php 3:20 AV)

The word ‘conversation’ means, “the commonwealth of citizens”.  Our conversation is our citizenship.  The idea is that the saints of God are citizens of heaven and therefore, the administration of their lives is also from heaven.  Note particularly the present tense of our citizenship.  We are currently citizens of the kingdom of God.  We often compartmentalize our existence into neat little parts.  While on this earth, we think of ourselves of this earth.  Yet, we are not of this world any more than the Savior was of the world.  We may have come out of the world, but we are no longer of this world.  If we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior from sin and hell, we are children of the most High God!  Because we are no longer of this world, our attention is upward and not outward.  Whether by death or by translation, we look for the Savior.  Since our eternal home is not of this world, our heart aches for the presence of Jesus Christ!

Over the years, time spent away from my wife and family has been very little.  I struggle to think of a time when we were apart for more than a few days.  There were the occasional trips when she went back to her home state for a family function, or the weekend or two I spent in a hunting lodge.  But I cannot think of any single time when we were separated for more than a week at a time.  I don’t think we could manage.  We are simply too used to one another.  When one is absent, the other cannot function.  If there were no such thing as cell phones, I don’t know what we would do if we had to be parted for any length of time.  Absence is a hard state to tolerate.  The more two people love one another, the harder it is to be apart.

When we open God’s word and read of the person of God, our hearts should begin to grow ever fonder of Him.  When we read through the gospels and really try to internalize the LORD’s ministry with His disciples, our love for Him should grow.  Those who read the Bible and pray the most are those who ache for the presence of the LORD Jesus Christ.  The older we get and the more this world fades from the heart, the sweeter our Savior becomes.  I like what David’s songwriter pens in Psalm seventy-three.  “Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me [to] glory. Whom have I in heaven [but thee]? and [there is] none upon earth [that] I desire beside thee.” (Ps 73:24-25 AV)