There is a tension that comes with being a Christian: we live in this world, but we no longer belong to it. Even though we still go out, interact with people, work, study, build families, and make plans in life, our identity and our ultimate allegiance are no longer rooted here. Christ has given us a new citizenship, a new kingdom, and a new way of living. But knowing that we belong to another kingdom should affect more than what we believe about ourselves; it should affect how we live.
It is not enough to know that you are not of the world; you must also act in such a manner. Philippians 3:20 reminds us that our citizenship is not of this world. We are citizens of heaven who ought to live expectant of a transformation from our Saviour. And till the day of transformation comes, we must remain unmoved by the world we live in.
The Scripture tells us that Jesus has translated us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His Son (Col. 1:13). Those harmful and detestable habits you had before Christ must leave you. You are no longer a member of the world you once belonged to. Zaccheus grasped this truth and left his days of tax collection behind him (Lk. 19:1-10). Yes, grace calls us to come the way we are, but still grace transforms us. It teaches us to reject all ungodliness, so that we can live as true citizens of the kingdom we now belong to (Tit. 2:11-14). It empowers us to shut out the life we lived in the world we came from and live a life that glorifies God in the world we now belong to.
Make no mistake, turning away from the practices and ideology of the world will make us repulsive to the world, but that is exactly where we ought to be. Friendship with the world, Scripture says, is enmity with God (Jam. 4:4). Jesus comforts us by telling us it was the same for Him, and it is only normal because we do not belong to it. In John 15:18-19, He teaches His disciples how to handle rejection. We are not of the world, so we don’t need to beg for acceptance.
Moreover, this understanding of where we belong should affect more than our relationship with the world’s practices and ideologies; it should also affect our relationship with the things it offers us. An understanding of this lets us hold on loosely to possessions on earth, knowing that we are just a-passing in this world (Heb. 11:13-16). It gives us hope for the kingdom we will inherit. The kingdom we inherit is not this fallen and withering-away world. Our hope is in the established, eternal kingdom of God.
We can only learn to let go of unhealthy attachments to this world when our minds are set on the things above and our hearts are anchored in Christ. By seeking to please the Lord and making the end goal of our actions to be “that God may be glorified,” we gradually become less attached to the things of this world. By having a kingdom-oriented, God-centred life, you gradually begin to find it harder to hold on to worldly attachments. (Col. 3:1-4, Matt. 6:21, 1 Jn. 2:15-17)
And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.
2 Corinthians 5: 15 BSB
Paul was so Jesus-centred that he said, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain,” because death meant being with Christ (Php. 1:21). He set his mind on things above and lived for the things of God’s kingdom. His ultimate attachment was therefore to Christ and His kingdom, not to the world.
So, this is not a teaching that calls you to live like a ghost on earth. No. Remember, one of the first commands God gave humanity was to exercise dominion (Gen. 1:26-28). We must do things, take up space, and change the narrative to the glory of God’s name. We must shine our light so that men see and glorify our Father in Heaven.
This teaching only calls us to let our greatest allegiance be to the kingdom of God, to let our attachment to the things above be greater than our attachment to the things here. It calls us not to be so caught up in living life here that we forget who and whose we are.
But because we live in this world, it is possible to take up the habits of the world. Prolonged proximity to a person makes you more likely to pick up their habits and traits. That is why members of the same household will more often than not have similar traits, from simple things like walking patterns to more personal things like preferences and interests. So Romans 12:2 instructs us not to conform to the world, but to be transformed by renewing our minds. If you are not intentional about renewing your mind by the word of God, you will forget who you are and where you’re from. It is through the renewal of our minds that we are reminded of what is expected of us in every situation.
Perhaps this is the reason the Apostles often wrote to the churches in a way that seemed like they were reminding them of something they had forgotten. If we do not renew our minds, we can become blind to our identity.
If renewing our minds reminds us of who we are, then that renewed identity should eventually become visible in the way we live and relate to others. I think it is amazing that part of what Jesus speaks about before reminding His disciples of their identity is love.
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:35 NIV
Even though we are not of this world, we are still in it. Our identity should therefore influence what we love, what we pursue, what we hold on to, how we think, and ultimately, how we treat the people around us. We have been loved by God and have received His love through Christ, so that same love should flow from us towards those around us.
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