Have you ever visited somewhere on holiday when a fellow traveller comes up to you and asks for directions to a particular place and you have to say sorry, I’m not from around here? That’s happened to me on several occasions. Many people live in a city far away from where they were born and don’t view it as home, they too may feel they are not from around here. But can you imagine being born in a city and feeling like I’m not from around here?

That is what the residents of the first-century Greek city of Philippi might have said, even those who were born there, because they were Roman citizens. They were hundreds of miles away from Rome, yet they lived by Roman laws, wore Roman clothes, and wrote their documents in Latin. The city looked like Rome, smelt like Rome, felt like Rome, but it wasn’t Rome. Citizens of Philippi were in Greece, but could easily have felt that they were not from around here, because they were living as citizens of Rome. 

Being a Christian is somewhat similar. We may live in London, Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast or Dublin, even be born in one of those cities but we are citizens of another place – heaven. Our situation is as the writer of Hebrews says, ‘For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.’ (Hebrews 13:14). As our citizenship is in heaven, we are to live as strangers and foreigners here, as people who don’t belong, as people who are not from around here. Every day we have the opportunity to be different: to live by different standards, and values as we march to a different drumbeat following King Jesus. The question is, do our lives reflect the kingdom standards espoused by Jesus, or do we just blend into the world around us? Do people see that there is something different about us, and enquire as to what it is, or is there no evidence that we are Christians?

Living as though we are not from around here means we have to think about our lives: what is important to us? What is our top priority? What gets us up each morning? Is it material or spiritual things? Is it worldly pursuits or heavenly ones? Are we chasing after our own goals and pleasures or are we taking up our cross and following Jesus? What, or who, are we living for? 

The apostle Peter gives us some sage advice: ‘…I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.’ (1 Peter 2:11-12). Ultimately, living as if we are not from around here is for God’s glory, which we hope others will see and then follow our example at the appropriate time.

As citizens of heaven let’s take the opportunity to reflect Jesus and to extend the values of his kingdom in the way we live – this will have both an impact on the world around us and be pleasing to our Father in heaven.   

Local congregation:
Grace Communion West Hampstead 
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
London
NW6 2BA

Meeting time:
Sunday 12.30 pm

Local congregational contact:
Gordon Brown
gordon.brown@gracecom.church

Word of Life contact:  
wordoflife@gracecom.church