From Foreigner to Citizen

“That is why you are no longer foreigners and outsiders 
but citizens together with God’s people and members of God’s family.”
Ephesians 2:19

When did you become a citizen of God’s Kingdom? Are you aware of what changed in your
life? There probably would not have been any physical changes that suddenly appeared. You likely did not begin speaking a different language, or suddenly had a new history written into your life. You probably did not dramatically become a different person.

We have all met people in our local world who were not born in the US. . . foreigners. Becoming a citizen of our country did not suddenly change the way the look, act, or speak. They do not instantly know English, nor the customs and traditions and history of the people with whom they have become citizens. But they have chosen to take on a new national identity, and from that point on, they carry that identity. They learn the language, adopt the customs and traditions, and follow the laws of their new national identity, even though they are still the person they had been before that identity change. They made a choice, and they took on the identity of a legal citizen.

One of the highest honors I ever experienced was when the Saharawi government gave me
official citizenship in their nation. I had not made a formal request for citizenship, nor did I go through their normal legal system. The only reason that I was given official citizenship was purely based on the decision of their President to grant it. I did not look any different than I did when I made the choice many years ago to wear their women’s traditional melhfas, even though I continued to get entangled and trip, and unravel in the winds, as I had normally done. I did not suddenly speak their Hassanya language any differently than the mangled 2-year-old level that was somehow endearing to them. . . simply because I was trying. I did not look any different. I did not change as a person.

But by the President’s word, I now carried an official document – a legal passport – an identity I did not have before the President’s choice to grant it to me. God is the One Who intervenes in a person’s life and makes them a citizen of His Kingdom. Though there is nothing we can do to become a citizen of Heaven, the Highest Authority grants us citizenship in His Kingdom. A Heavenly passport that carries your name is granted by The
Highest Authority – God Himself – King of Heaven …granted only by His Grace, and signed by His own Son with His own blood. We are not fluent in His Language, we are not perfect in
obeying His Laws. We all came from the Kingdom of Darkness….the Kingdom of this world,
and He grants entrance into His Kingdom of Light upon the authority of the Word of His Son.

It will take time to know Him. . . to learn His Words . . . to understand His Ways and His Heart.
Your new identity will come in time, as He brings you into His Family, teaches you, shows you His Love and patiently guides you in how to live as one of His own family…His child. Though you were born into the Kingdom of this World, you will become more and more like Him as you walk with Him, talk with Him, live with Him, and come to know His Heart. Don’t be too surprised if you even begin to resemble Him in the eyes of those around you. A Family Resemblance.