As noted earlier, my mom recently moved into assisted living to be near family. It was a good decision and she’s starting to reap its benefits, some of which include her getting to see grandchildren, and even one of her great grandchildren, in person! She also never has to cook, clean, or do her own laundry again.
But she’s been challenged as well. Her new apartment building only serves meals at certain hours, and for the first month she had numerous medical staff coming in at random times to help get her stronger after her post-hospitalization rehab. This led to much confusion and frustration.
Things are settling down now, but the move reminded me of our move into a new kingdom. We have been rescued from the kingdom of darkness and now live in the kingdom of God’s dear Son. He Himself qualified us to be citizens of His glorious kingdom (Colossians 1:12-13). But it IS a new realm and with a new way of living.
When we lived as mere citizens of the world, we did whatever we wanted. We regularly gave someone an earful if they ticked us off. We ate, drank, or even slept too much. Or we habitually worried, regretted the past, and/or feared for the future. And we may have ranted about politics, our neighbors, or the driver in front of us.
However, we are now citizens of a heavenly kingdom. We no longer conform to the world’s thinking, but instead renew our minds to our new identity and nature (Romans 12:1-2, 2 Corinthians 5:17). Paul spends the first three chapters of Ephesians reminding us of who we now are. We are saints–blessed with every spiritual blessing, lavished upon us by God’s grace (Ephesians 1). No longer dead in our sin (driven by lusts,) we are now alive in Christ and are seated with Him in heavenly places, members of God’s household (Ephesians 2). And Paul prays for us to know the height and length and depth and breadth of God’s love (Ephesians 3).
Given those amazing and wonderful truths, Paul urges us to live in a manner worthy of our calling. We should lay aside the old self and put on the new, making sure our words edify one another. We should walk in humility, gentleness, and patience with one another. Paul reminds us to put away bitterness, rage, anger, and be done with our old partying lifestyle. Immorality, greed, and distasteful jokes should no longer be our norm (Ephesians 4-5). It’s a new home with new norms. And God has equipped us to walk as worthy citizens.
We still mess up. We sometimes fall into self pity or give into anxiety. But God’s abundant grace is there to lead us to a better path. We are never alone and have no need to fear. Our job is to keep reminding ourselves of who we are and what we have been given, looking for a heavenly perspective and standing strong against our enemy (Ephesians 6). As we remember these things and focus on our loving Provider and Equipper, we will live more and more like the citizens He created us to be.
