ALIEN CITIZENS

Philippians 3:17-21
17 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.

What would it have been like to be E.T., stranded in an unfamiliar place where everyone looked different than you, spoke a strange dialect, and had no concept of your history or roots? While we might find a few friends and grow less bewildered by our surroundings over time, that urge toward home, the place where we truly belonged, would never leave us.

Scripture tells us that believers in Jesus are in a similar predicament in this world (Ephesians 2:19; 1 Peter 2:11). While our appearance or mannerisms might not suggest a radical disorientation, the truth is that this place, this existence of competing cultures and politics and worldviews, is not our true home.

Paul said it this way: "Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:20). We live in a foreign land among a foreign people. We eat the same food, cry the same tears, hope for many of the same things. We love, we sweat, and we brood over discomforts. But we are ultimately not the same. We are aliens, and we are waiting for home.

Even if we are calloused to this reality, there are poignant moments where we are reminded of the truth. We have ecstatic times of joy, but soon life turns shallow--for deep in our soul we know these fleeting moments never satisfy. We see the injustice and sorrow in the world around us, and something whispers strongly to us, "This isn't right. We weren't created for this."

We know we are aliens because our hearts turn toward home. Paul said we "eagerly await a Savior." Eager waiting is all about what might be and what will be. But it is also filled with disappointment over what could be and what is. To live as aliens, bound in this season to a world that isn't home, is to live with certain amounts of regret and certain amounts of disappointment.

But it is good. It points us toward home. As Moses said, "I have become an alien in a foreign land" (Exodus 2:22). --Winn Collier

DESTINATION POINTS

* What twinges have I felt, hints that this world is not my true home?
* How does the reality of being an alien affect the way I use--or abuse--this world?
* How does the reality of being an alien give me hope?

bottom line: Live with heaven in view.

soul journey