Lisa Sheffler, author
It’s Friday, the end of our week, but also the end of our Dual Citizenship series. Let’s reflect on what the Lord has shown us and how the Spirit has shaped us through God’s Word.
Reflect
We covered four key passages in this series. Take a moment and read through them.
How have these passages shaped your view of government and your responsibilities as a citizen? As Christian citizens and citizens of our country, how can we be a blessing to the people of our nation?
Connect
In the beginning, God designed our world to be a place where he would dwell with us. As our Creator and Lord, his love and rule would have provided everything we needed including peace, security, purpose, and a home where we belonged.
Humanity has been in exile since Adam and Eve rebelled against God and were forced from the Garden. And now, all these generations later, something in us still longs for what should have been. We know this is not the way it was supposed to be. We’re living in a world marred by sin, and it’s not the one for which we were made. It’s full of uncertainty, fear, suspicion, injustice, and strife. This is not the way our Creator designed us to live.
I wonder if much of the political fervor that we see in our nation springs from this feeling of exile, and the longing for the home we’ve lost. Something is wrong, and we’re desperate for someone to fix it. We turn to political leaders for peace, security and purpose. If we suspect we’ve found one who can provide them, we’ll invest in them, trust in their solutions, and join them in demonizing the other side.
But it won’t work. Our hearts long for heaven and the one who reigns over it. We’ll never be able to create heaven on earth, no matter how brilliant or good our leaders are. We have to live in the reality of now — we can make our temporary home a better place, but sin will always be with us. It’s a tyrant that has not yet been fully ejected. But one day it will.
Jesus is our ultimate and eternal King and it’s in him we find our hope. We can and should work to make our world better, including using the rights and privileges we have as earthly citizens to love our neighbors as ourselves. But we must do so with humility. Because while we might see a vision of a better world, the path to it is not always clear. Our political systems can’t withstand the weight of our faith or our hope. They will never be able to alleviate all our fears. But Jesus can. He loves us so!
The apostles saw the world as it is. They knew we needed systems of government and that by submitting to those governments, we might live peaceable lives where we would be allowed to tell people about Jesus and share his love. So let’s fix our eyes on Jesus during this turbulent political season. And like Paul, let’s pray fervently for all people to come to a saving knowledge of him and let’s obey his command to be ready to whatever is good.
Respond
How would you summarize your biggest takeaways from this series? How will you apply them? Use the following questions to help you think through what God is showing you:
- Take some time to pray about how you engage with earthly government. Over the last few weeks, has the Spirit convicted you through the Word? Encouraged you? Are there ways you speak, think, or act that need to change?
- As part of our vision, we want to engage people in meaningful conversations where people experience the love of Christ through us. How can you speak peace and hope to others during this season? How can you have conversations about politics that encourage greater faith in God?
- Let’s ask ourselves, as citizens of heaven who are also citizens of countries here on earth, how can we do good things for the place we temporarily call home?
