Our Heavenly Citizenship

by Monica Hernandez
Published December 1, 2005

"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God" (Ephesians 2:19).

I wish you could have seen Émilia on the day she went for her Canadian citizenship declaration. She was excited, grateful to Canada and well-dressed for that special occasion. Émilia, an immigrant from Portugal, had struggled to gain landed immigrant status and finally after some years, she qualified for Canadian citizenship.

On the day of her declared Canadian citizenship, Émilia said to some friends and me: "I am proud to be a Canadian..." She was also proud that her children would be educated in Canada and would grow up in this beautiful country. She emphasized: "Now, I feel I belong here..."

I saw how important it was to Émilia to belong to Canada and as I observed her excitement, it brought home to me the importance of the sense of belonging to someone, a family, a country, and most of all, the household of God. Belonging to a family or country gives us a feeling of solidarity and mutual support, but nothing can compare with the feeling of belonging to the household of God.

In our Bible reading above, Paul addressed the Ephesians (and all eventual followers of Christ), telling them no longer are they strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. This tells us that each of us is an integral part of the company of heaven, bonded by the truth that we have one Saviour and Master, Jesus Christ.

We live here on earth but we belong to heaven. We have citizenship there. And as citizens, we are joint-heirs with Christ, entitled to all the benefits the Kingdom of heaven has to offer: peace, harmony and rest.

How do people gain citizenship in heaven? By receiving the resurrected life of Jesus Christ into their lives so they can have a new birth: a spiritual rebirth. When we receive Christ into our lives, we become new creatures in Him and our heavenly citizenship is declared. God’s angels rejoice and we too, like the angels should rejoice. Like Émilia, we should also feel a sense of belonging, not merely to a country but to the most profound kingdom there is: the household of God.

God’s household, besides His angels are those of the land of the living who have gone on before us and we believers who yet remain on this earth plane. We are all one family: the family of God. In the poem "We Are Seven" by William Wordsworth, he captures this truth beautifully. He wrote of a little girl who insisted that she was of a family of seven, two of whom had died. Here are the two last stanzas of the poem:

"How many are you, then," said I,

"If they two are in heaven?"

Quick was the little Maid’s reply,

"O Master, we are seven."

"But they are dead; those two are dead!

Their spirits are in heaven!"

‘Twas throwing words away; for still

The little Maid would have her will,

And said: "Nay, we are seven."

Suggested Readings: Luke 10:20; Luke 22:30; John 14:2; Ephesians 2:13, 14; Philippians 3:20; 1 Peter 1:4; Revelations 21:27.

Reflection: What hinders me from receiving Christ into my life or rededicating my life to Him today? It is better to be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell anywhere else.

Prayer: "Heavenly Father, I thank you for Jesus Christ that by His life I am saved and made a part of your household. I thank you for my citizenship in heaven. Amen."

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