Live like a Citizen Of Heaven, not Hell.

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,” (Philippians 3:20)

This verse compares our eternal spiritual destination to earthly patriotism, as verses 17-19 urge us to follow the examples of strong, Christ-like believers ready for sainthood and warns us against conducting ourselves in the manner of God’s enemies, with the mindset of the secular culture, serving our own appetites, and being proud of this fact–a spiritually deadly recipe.

So this note of encouragement comes right after a strict warning, that we do not have to be such, that we can turn our hearts and minds upon our goal, eternal fellowship with God and each other in Heaven’s paradise, striving forward to be more like him day by day as we wait here on Earth for our Lord and Savior to return and keep his promise to restore our corrupt bodies back to the pristine conditions of the garden of Eden, like Jesus Christ’s own resurrected body in glory.

The hard question we must ask ourselves, and consciously make a good decision about, is whether we truly want to be like him or like following after the corrupt appetites of our fallen, broken flesh. The flesh is weak, yes, but is the spirit willing? None are so weak as the weak in spirit.

Lord, we confess we have areas where we have chosen to follow after the weakness of the flesh. We recognize our greatest weakness is of the spirit and the will, we are choosing by faith to accept the principles of a world we cannot yet see with our human eyes. Please strengthen us in our spirit today to resist the failings of the flesh, including our fallen emotions, and walk as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven as you are preparing us day by day to live with you there. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.