Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Citizens of Heaven

Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.  For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.  They are headed for destruction.  Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.  But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives.  And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.  He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.   Philippians 3:17-21(NLT)
It is an unusual thing for a pastor to miss church.  It’s like an athlete watching his team play the game on TV; it’s just not the same when you’re not there.  I’ve written and preached enough about that over the years so this seems like familiar ground, but when a believer/follower of Christ is absent from worship there is a sense of having missed doing that for which you’ve been created…worship!
I felt that Sunday.  Saturday night’s earache, brought on by a sizeable middle ear infection, robbed me of any possibility of sleep.  By the flickering pre-dawn light of the wee hours I was hunting for a worship service on TV that would somehow keep my mind focused on the Lord’s Day.  Flipping through the channels I saw it again – the filled stadium in Texas, and the familiar pop culture pop star peddling his best-life, you-deserve-more, and you-can-have-it-if-you-smile-as-big-as-I-do theology. 
(I’m not sure why I’m drawn to watch that drivel, except that it’s common to our human nature to want more of everything, and this guy finds a way to tap into that desire.)
This time I only watched for about thirty seconds before the waves of nausea hit.  No, the ear infection did not make me want to lose it; I felt a rising sense of compassion for the people in that stadium who were being deceived by a false message which dwells on all hope being in this life only. 
That is a message worlds-apart from the true Christian message the Apostle Paul gave us about being content, not letting your belly’s appetite, or this world’s wealth rule your mind and actions. 
Paul said we should be citizens of Heaven, eagerly looking for the return of Christ.  To be a citizen of Heaven means we lift our aim a little higher than having financial gain, or the trappings of earth’s successes.  Paul said to the church at Corinth that fixing your mind on earthly wealth, even though some Houston preacher of prosperity with a TV audience makes it sound like a spiritual quest, is empty – a sham of godliness:
 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.  1 Corinthians 15:19(NLT)

For You Today

Financial gain, worldly acclaim, and the power to control your life may hold a certain allure for those who don’t have those things.  But the overwhelming evidence is that we were created for worship, not wealth. 
If you are a citizen of Heaven the choice isn’t that hard.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of:  Pixabay.com

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