Citizenship

Jesus. In me.


Find your passport or Social Security card. If you don't have one, loo for your school ID, driver's license, or something that shows you are a citizen of your country.


A passport enables you o travel he world. Wherever you go, it proves where you belong.
A Social Security card or ID says who you are--it's an indicator of your status.


What rights do these documents give you? What freedoms do they symbolize? Are you proud to own them?


What responsibilities do they bring, now or later? Voting? Paying taxes? What else?


And what expectations do you have of yourself as a citizen of your country? Does it affect the way you act, the choices you make?


Read Luke 12:25-32, perhaps in a different version even than what I'm sharing with you here (from The Message).


"Has anyone by fussing before the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? If fussing can't even do that, why fuss at all? Walk into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They don't fuss with their appearance—but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. If God gives such attention to the wildflowers, most of them never even seen, don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?


"What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Don't be afraid of missing out. You're my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself."


Jesus said His followers were citizens of another kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven.
Without physical boundaries, people who choose to put themselves under the rule of Christ are already citizens of this kingdom.


It's a kingdom of different priorities--where the poor are blessed, where trust in God replaces worry, where forgiveness is freely given and received. It's an upside-down kingdom.
What rights do you have as a citizen of Christ's kingdom? What responsibilities? What expectations do you have of yourself?


And are you truly loyal to King Jesus? Or to something else?