Citizen of the World or Citizen of Heaven by Sis. Irene Spanogle

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God. Ephesians 2:19

In this life there are two groups of strangers and pilgrims, and everyone living is a part of one group or the other. Eph. 2:12 says, “That at THAT time ye were without Christ, being ALIENS from the commonwealth of Israel, and STRANGERS from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world”. Everyone living has been, or still is, in this group of strangers. We could not understand the spiritual language being spoken by the people of God. We could not see the value of putting spiritual things above the temporal and not living for the things and the pleasures of this life. It was strange to us that this other group of people would put so much emphasis on intangible things. But when God awakened us, resurrected us to new life in Christ everything changed. The things of the spirit, intangible things, began to make sense. We began to see as Moses did in He. 11:27, “By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as SEEING him who is invisible”. Our spiritual eyes have been opened. We are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens in the household of God. Hallelujah! We are learning God‘s ways, we are part of his household. Now we have become strange to the world, the other group of strangers. There is no use to try to fit into both groups. It won’t work. When Old Testament Israel learned the ways of the heathen they lost the favor of God, and so will we. Let us accept the fact that there is a price to pay for whichever group we choose to be a part of. And the price we pay will determine our citizenship.