Happy Canada Day, my fellow Canadians, and Happy Early 4th of July, my American friends! It's that day of the year again when all the citizens of our country forget their differences and feel a burst of national patriotism and celebrate our home and native land. It took living in the States a few years, I think, to help me fully understand citizenship. Now that I'm back in my mother country, the country of which I'm a citizen, I have a new appreciation for citizenship.
But one thing that I've got to remember is that, though according to human governments and laws, I'm a citizen of Canada, I'm actually not. I'm really an alien, an immigrant, a foreigner. You see, my citizenship is not in an earthly country. I'm just visiting this country, spending a few years in it before I go home. For, I'm really a citizen of heaven.
"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." (Philippians 3:20)
So on this Canada Day, as we celebrate our citizenship of this dear, old country, let's remember that "to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." (John 1:12) If you have received Jesus, repented from your sins, believed in His name, and have chosen to live your life for Him, He's given you the right (the privilege, the blessing, the adoption certificate) to become His child. And if you are His child, then your citizenship is not in this earth. It's in heaven.