We are not of this world.

Colossians 3:2 – “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” – Romans 12:2

We are not of this world, though we were born here, think of yourself like a tourist. You arrived to your destination but you are not meant to stay. You go to various places, do fun things, see the sights and relax but at the end of your vacation you leave. We are all like tourists to this earth, we come and then at some point we must leave but what we do while we are here is what counts. Are we here on vacation? Are we just here to see the sights and enjoy ourselves with no real purpose? Or are we here on business? This first scripture mentioned above encourages us to set our affections on things above. This calls us to a higher purpose. We must not be too concerned about loving the material and earthly things. We must have a passion and a heart for the things of God.
‘Well what things?’You may ask. I believe that the things above refer to heavenly things. It refers to the will of God for our life, the presence of God, the mission of the gospel, Jesus and his free gift of salvation. Those things should be our first priority here on earth. Instead of focusing on earthly material things that will pass away, we must focus on our mission, our purpose, our goal as Christians which ultimately, is to share the gospel with the lost.
The second scripture mentioned above tells us that we must not conform to this world. Like a liquid would take the shape of it’s container and conform to it, we must not take on the ‘shape’ of the world. We must stand for what we believe in and do what is right in the eyes of the Lord. The moment we conform to this world, the moment we start to look like them, talk like them and think like them, our image changes. We conform and we are seen as belonging to this world but if we remain in the will of God for our lives and make God the number one priority in our lives, then our image reflects Jesus. We will be transformed as Jesus renews our minds. We will become citizens of the kingdom of heaven, as opposed to citizens of this world.
Believers, I encourage you to examine yourself and see whether or not your image looks more like a citizen of this world or a citizen of heaven. You know sometimes how people can tell where someone is from just by looking at the way they are dressed? Their image reflects their culture. The way they talk and think also reflects what culture they belong to and where they are from. Let us look, think and act like citizens of the kingdom of God. Thats where we are from. And after this business trip to earth is over, that is where we will return.
Heaven is my home. Amen.