21March2020 The Sound of Sirens

A few moments ago, at 7:00am on-the-dot, with the eerie sound of air raid sirens, we went from the, Please do not leave your house unless it's an emergency stage to the If you leave your house you will be arrested immediately stage.  We are all healthy, have plenty of food and are in good spirits. 

5March2020 Quickthought: Citizenship

I was born in America, I have the birth certificate, the driver’s license, the passport, the accent and the funny quirks to prove it.  Every local person I see, meet and talk to here knows that I am not from this country.  Is it my appearance?  Possibly.  Is it my customs or behavior or maybe my thought process? Maybe.  Or is it my language or my attempts to speak (read “butcher”) their language?  Probably.   I mean initially, I may get an, “Oh, I thought you were Arab.” which is them being polite or them being very sleepy, but after a few minutes they know, oh they know that I ain’t from around here. 

Today I read these words from Philippians, “our citizenship is in Heaven” (3:20) and then these words from Joseph Benson, “…our citizenship, our thoughts, our affections, are already in heaven; or we think, speak, and act, converse with our fellow-creatures, and conduct ourselves in all our intercourse with them, as citizens of the New Jerusalem, and as being only strangers and pilgrims upon earth. We therefore endeavour to promote the interests of that glorious society to which we belong, to learn its manners, secure a title to its privileges, and behave in a way suitable to, and worthy of our relation to it.”

What a great reminder!  We should live in such a way that those around us know, without a doubt, that our citizenship, our identity is wholeheartedly in Heaven.  What is my agenda?   To represent Jesus as long as He has me on this planet.   

God help us each to live for You and spread the fragrant, beautiful aroma of Jesus today, ambassadors of Christ, citizens of Heaven.