Day 104 "My Citizenship Is In Heaven"

The US passport is one the most highly valued of all the passports, allowing its citizens to visit 183 nations without a visa.

It allows its citizens to come and go freely into and out of the United States, a prized

commodity desired throughout the world, especially in underdeveloped countries where financial hardships and lack of opportunities yield little opportunities to improve the living standards of one's life.

Heaven, God's kingdom, is also a highly prized commodity for which by faith we lean upon to give us hope and encouragement to lift us out from underneath our fears and concerns as we travel through this life here on earth. Though we look around and see only that which is temporary in nature, some of us by faith believe in a life after this life, and that it will last forever! Others of us, place our faith in a belief that there is no God and that this life is the only reality we will experience, so we build our lives around it and strive for happiness along the way before we die and no longer exist.

For those of us who have faith in a life after this life, we believe, like having a passport, that there is a requirement to gain entrance into God's heaven: a belief in Jesus Christ. As Christians, we believe that Jesus purposely died on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and in doing so, he reconciled us back into a living relationship with God having made us holy and totally forgiven on a spiritual plane for all of our unrighteousness and sin. Yes, there are many religions throughout the world claiming to be the way. Hard to determine what to believe with so many options. But when you look at the heart of Christianity being love, and you are able to get by the hypocrisy of human nature failing to live up to the standards of love, I believe you will find the attractiveness of God's love and provisions through grace strongly appealing. Because of placing emphasis on Christ dying on the cross to exonerate and pardon us, it is only befitting that the Bible states that Jesus is the only way to reach the heavenly Father.

"Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No comes to the Father

except through me." John 14:6

Without Jesus being the only way to the Father, then the cross has no importance, value, or meaning. Jesus would have died for nothing. But the resurrection of Christ from the dead bolsters the placement of our faith that Christ was, indeed, who he claimed to be- the one and only Son of God. This should be great news for us who live in a world full of much inequality, pain and suffering. The love of God doesn't smooth the roughness out of traveling life's road, for without roughness, challenges and adversity, how would character get developed? But what the love of God does do is to instill within us the real purpose for living life and to inspire in us the desire to live each moment of our lives, as best we possibly can, in a state of loving others-in everything that we do: in our relationships with each other, the quality of work that we perform, in the goals and desires we put into place, our relationship with God. We are only here on earth for such a brief moment as life allows, and then we move on. If you live your life in complete love, you are living life at the highest standard of readiness as each moment passes, and you will find yourself at any moment along the way, ready to meet God and move on to the next life with no regrets or despair.

Most of us spend our entire lives only giving attention to this world. It absorbs us. We could all learn a great lesson from the apostle Paul, who used to be the self-righteous Saul. Completely driven by his own performance, his life was radically changed when he encountered Jesus. I will let him speak for himself:

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything as loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." Philippians 3:7-9

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection," Philippians 3:10

"Not that I have already attained all this, or have already been made perfect, , but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." Philippians 3:12

"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Jesus Christ." Philippians 3:13-14

"For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is their shame. There mind is on earthly things." Philippians 3:18-19

"But our citizenship is in heaven." Philippians 3:20

Paul realized that all of this life was merely temporary. But Christ is permanent and eternal. What makes sense to you: investing your life in such a way that it has eternal significance or give it away on your own pleasures that will only last for a temporary period of time? Invest your time wisely.

***********************************************************************

"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16

For who will you live? Where is your true citizenship?

Make it a great day! See you, again, here tomorrow...

"Carpe Momentum in Love" (Seize the moment in love)