Citizens of Heaven, Inhabitants of Earth

As a Christian trying to live for the glory of God, life is just complicated. The instant I appealed to Heaven for Salvation and accepted Jesus as my Savior, I became a citizen of Heaven; and as its citizen, I am responsible to learn the language and customs.

So how am I, a citizen of a realm beyond this earth, supposed to live during my time on this earth?

I think James 1:26-27 sums it up pretty well: it says, “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”  -James 1:26-27

First, I need to keep a tight reign on my tongue. If I truly want to live in a way that brings God glory, I need to practice self discipline and keep myself in check. Second, I am commanded to look for people who need help and assist them in whatever capacity God has enabled me to. Wherever I go and whatever I do, I am called to step out of myself and help those who can’t help themselves. And finally, even though in am in this world, I should not be participating in the things that are contrary in principal to the things of God. Certain things may look appealing and innocent, but I always need to question my motives for going anywhere and doing anything, and I need to be conscious of where anything will take me.

As I wrote this, what stuck me was the realization that each of these three things are in complete opposition with how this world says I should live; and while it’s all too easy to give a worldly response to worldly situations, we’ve been called to something higher than this world. In the New Testament, Jesus – Heaven’s ultimate citizen – exemplified for us how we are to act. He never once compromised the truth He preached, and He was always the perfect example of love because He is love. If I really want to live my life for Him, I need to be filled up by Him; because I can’t give something out when I haven’t been filled up with it.