Where is your citizenship? From an earthly perspective, my citizenship is in the United States. I am thankful for the blessings I have experienced and continue to experience due to the freedoms and opportunities we have. One definition of citizenship is “the position or status of being a citizen of a particular country.” My citizenship, from an earthly perspective, is limited, and it has an expiration date. It is ultimately limited to the point in time in which my earthly life expires.

The expiration of my earthly citizenship is not the end of the story. Spiritually, Christians are pilgrims in this life on their way to the heavenly city whose builder and maker is God. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us. The Apostle Paul wrote, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body” Philippians 3:20-21.

Earthly citizenship is defined in part as a legal right of belonging to a particular country. Spiritually, it is the same. If you or I enter heaven someday, it will not be by our own merits, but by the declaration of God based on our faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 3:22 “The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. 23 For All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. 26 God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Justification comes through faith in Jesus and his life, death, burial, and resurrection. It is the legal declaration of God secured by the blood of Jesus, who is the propitiation for our sins. Vines Expository Dictionary defines justification: “The act of pronouncing righteous, justification, acquittal.” It is the legal declaration of God on our behalf.

Someday, if your faith is in Christ alone, you will be welcomed into Heaven. You will not be welcomed by your own merit or deeds. You will be welcomed because of Jesus. I look forward to that day with anticipation and hope, and I want to take as many people as possible with me.

C.S. Lewis wrote: “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.”