NOT-OF-THIS-WORLD PEOPLE?

 

April 29, 2025

I am writing this devotion on the night of our Federal Election here in Canada, and the polls are still open. I do not know what the results will be, but over the last 35 days or so I have been engaged in a theological and ideological journey. I want to share with you where this has taken me in my thoughts and where God has challenged me. I pray that this will helpful as we all seek to serve God faithfully in all of life.

Philippians 3:20

Our citizenship is in heaven.

John 18:36

My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.

Over the past weekend I have had several conversations about Canadian politics, as I am sure many of you have. If there is anything that will spark debate, if not an outright argument, it is a discussion involving politics, even among fellow Jesus followers, these conversations can get very intense, can’t they.

These talks, raised a question for me, “As followers of Christ, what should be our attitude and our involvement with politics?” I know we all have heard that “religion and politics don’t mix.” We have heard from those who advocate for separation of church and state, which has a long history of discussion. But is that really true? Can we have political views outside the considerations of our Christian faith? The Bible’s answer is, no, we cannot. Our faith should inform every area of life even our political views, shouldn’t it?

To a people who were wrestling with questions equally difficult to the ones we face today, the apostle Paul famously said, “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). I wonder just how compelling that idea is to most of us. I wonder how many of us treat Paul’s words not as a solid statement of fact, but as a theoretical and perhaps just some aspiring idea. However, Paul was plain in his words to the Philippians. To him, citizenship in heaven was not wishful thinking, or a far-off promise, but a very present and transformative reality. Do you remember when Jesus stood on trial before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate and declared, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place” (John 18:36).

As followers of Jesus, we are first and foremost to be a not-of-this-world kind of people. Our heavenly citizenship should be what defines us more than anything else we might be tempted to root our identity in. I am a proud Canadian, but I am first a citizen of heaven. You may say, “isn’t that the perspective most Christians already have?” Perhaps we can best answer this by how we respond to the following:

Which keeps you up more at night: the direction of the country or the advance of God’s kingdom?

Which stimulates your conversations more: what this or that politician just did (or Party did) or what God is doing?

Bible seems to be saying that our identity as followers of Jesus should compel us to think of ourselves first as a citizen of heaven and then acknowledge that we also have an earthly place of residence.

So how does this choice of kingdom of God first, over our nation's politics affect us practically?

Here are a few thoughts I have had as I wrestle with being faithful to godly purposes and calling. Peter, suggested in his letters that no matter where we live, the reality that we are citizens of heaven means that we are exiles, strangers, and foreigners (1 Peter 1:11, 1 Peter 2:11) in our earthly land that we call home. Ok, so just how should an exile, stranger, or foreigner relate to his or her country? The words of the Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah, may be useful. Writing on behalf of God to the exiled people of Israel Jeremiah says, “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jer. 29:7).

What is your response to this? Should we seek the peace and prosperity of the country in which we live? Should we pray for it? Should we pray for the leaders of our nation? The apostle Paul seems to instruct us in Romans 13 to do just that, suggesting that these are the wise and faithful actions of a wise and faithful people. So, let’s start with this: we are all called to seek the good where we are, to be the salt and light that Jesus calls us to be, where we work, live and play.

To Be Continued ....



TAKE AWAY

Give some thought today to my question above.

“As followers of Christ, what should be our attitude and our involvement with politics?”