Day 37 - Issue 32
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Philippians 1:27 NLT
Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.
A quick search on Google will identify how different countries identify citizenship. Common to all is that it is a relationship between rights and responsibilities. The scripture contains the essential elements required of a disciple, aka a citizen of heaven. As with all relationships, my freedom in Christ is related to my willingness to abide by God’s life-giving instructions.
Perhaps, as Ghandi, the Indian nationalist, declared that he would be a Christian if it wasn’t for Christians. This followed his exclusion from a Christian church in Kolkata on the grounds that it was for high-caste Indians and whites. Having been drawn by what he read of Jesus in the Gospels, Ghandi turned his back upon a religion that preached well yet was found wanting in its application. This is always our dilemma as citizens of heaven. How might we reveal the love and life of Jesus through our daily life?
So, while the gospel has a tremendous power to draw people of all backgrounds together, it so often flounders upon its followers’ inability to live out their responsibilities as heavenly citizens. Too often faith is reduced to dogmatics, or expressing strongly held opinions as facts. This drives others away, or worse still, we dismiss them, in a way that Jesus never does throughout the Gospel accounts. It’s not that I don’t have clear and strong views about what Jesus means to me and the place of scripture. Yet, I do not expect someone else to agree initially. They need first to meet the One who convinced me, Jesus.
Learning to live as a citizen of heaven challenges me daily over my own reluctance to fulfil my responsibilities
QUESTION: What reputation does your local church have?
PRAYER: May I be part of the solution and not part of the problem.
Released on 20 Feb 2020
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