"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself." (Phil. 3:20–21 NKJV)

Augustine, in his Confessions, wrote about the city of God and the city of earth. He contrasted those who are a part of the city of God as those whose main goal was to serve God, to deny themselves and to honor God with every fiber of their being. He described those who are a part of the city of earth as those who are selfish and serving only their desires, wants and wishes.

This characterizes the way life is and the way God portrays life in the Bible. We are either obedient to God, serving Him and concerned about pleasing Him, or we serve ourselves. If we serve ourselves, and look out for what we want, obedience does not even come into our vocabulary.

The Israelites failed to learn this. They did not obey God, and God sent prophets to warn them. Listen to Jeremiah 7:23–27: “But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. ‘Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.’” (See also Jeremiah 11, 35 and Ezekiel 20)

Today, God still says “OBEY ME.” John 14:15 says, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” Those who are on the road to heaven seek His will above everything in their lives. Why? We are striving to be like Jesus!

I am afraid the world has affected us in the church much more than it should. I get concerned about this when I hear members of the church complaining about things that affect their comfort, such as how long a service lasts. Are we here for God or for us? Have we lost sight of why we are here and what is really important?

Examples? “I’ll never forget the business manager who dragged me into the [entranceway and foyer] on a late Friday afternoon to show off the brightly polished tile floor and then lamented, ‘It’s too bad it will all be scuffed up after Sunday.’ Or the group of needle pointers who crafted beautiful cushions of Biblical scenes for the front pews and then roped off the front pews so no one could sit on the cushions and soil them. Or the young lady who left the church because the church was growing. She said, ‘The church just isn’t the same anymore.’ She complained, ‘I used to have the whole pew to myself. There are too many people now. I want it to be like it used to be—just me and Jesus.’” (Robert Kopp, “Ready for Evangelism,” House to House/Heart to Heart, July 2006).

I want to go to heaven! Come, join me as we encourage one another to make it to the city of God, where our citizenship really is!