We are citizens of heaven… (Philippians 3:20)
In an age of political tribes, it’s easy to forget that God created us for a very different kind of belonging.
“To be moral in this world [today],” says one writer, “you don’t have to feed the hungry or sit with the widow. You just have to be liberal or conservative, you just have to feel properly enraged at the people you find contemptible … . We, the children of light, are facing off against them, the children of darkness. Politics seems to offer a sense of belonging. I am on the barricades with the other members of my tribe.”[1]
We were created to belong to a “tribe”—to others who help us remember who we are and what matters. But if you’ve committed to following Jesus, a political party or movement will never be your identity. The Bible says that you’re a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20). You’re part of a tribe called the “Body of Christ.” The Bible explains: “So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others,” (Romans 12:5 NIV). No political movement will ever give the community and connection that God designed us to experience in His Body.
It’s human to want to surround ourselves with people we agree with. We may not agree on everything with every other “body part” who is in Christ, but we can listen and learn from one another. Scripture says that “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend” (Proverbs 27:17). As God’s people, we can work together to represent what Scripture says that God values and bring it here, “on earth as it is in heaven.”
So today, step toward Christ’s Body as your true community, and let Him reshape your sense of belonging.
[1] David Brooks, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen (New York: Random House, 2023), chap. 8, “The Epidemic of Blindness,” Kindle edition.
