“Where are you from?”

During the first year my husband and I lived in Indianapolis, I heard this question more than any other. It often came up even if my new acquaintance didn’t know I’d moved recently. After 24 years of living in the South, my accent sounded strange in the Midwest. There was no hiding the fact that I was a transplant—my Southern accent gave me away instantly. I wasn’t a Midwesterner. I was from somewhere different.

If you are in Christ, you should stick out in this world just like a Southern girl saying “y’all” in Indiana. You aren’t from around here. At your core, you’re not an Arkansan or a Texan or a Hoosier or even an American.  Even though you’re residing on Earth, you’re a Heavener. (I think I just made up a word!) Your citizenship is in heaven, because your life is hidden with Christ, and that’s where He is (see Colossians 3:3).

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)

Because you’re a Heavener, you have something wonderful to look forward to. Remember how Jesus gave up His glorious existence with the Father to take on a breakable human body? The opposite will be true of you someday. You will trade your broken, frail body for a glorious body like His. And you will watch as your Savior returns to show His authority and victory over all.

No matter what you face this week, our citizenship is in Heaven.

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