E. Morris Sider
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I think of this in relation to the suburban phenomenon and how we very much attach ourselves to our suburban citizenry, it rights, and its expectations. If we are to be citizens of heaven and outsiders on the earth, then what does that mean in regards to how we live, especially in regard to the overwhelming suburban lifestyle which tends to describe our priorities and even our desires.
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It challenges those things that we hold on to. We find our suburban citizenry through the attaining of possessions, a sense of autonomy and individualism, and a sense of (over)abundance. While some of these things are good, they are good within limits. We all need possessions of some sort to survive. All of us have a God-ordained sense of individualism in how He created us...with a certain personality, set of gifts, etc. Abundance is a blessing from God (but overindulgance is not)
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What is interesting is that I find a pull in myself. Which ethic will shape me? Will it be the ethic of the Kingdom of which I am a citizen, or will I succomb to my felt needs pressed upon me through advertising and an expected standard of living in which my peers feel entitled to. How do I apply my citizenry to the Kingdom of God in such a way that lives true to that citizenry here on the earth?
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Perhaps one such guide is to ask ourselves what we vest ourselves in...what we consider worth-while. What is it in your life that you give worth to? What do you worth-ship (worship)? Those things we give worth to are those things that guide our lives and help shape where we spend our time, energy, and money. It shapes how we see and understand ourselves. If we're not more shaped by our heavenly citizenship then the default is that we're citizens of earth...of our human needs over our spiritual ones...of the temporal things over the eternal ones.
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What is always confounding is that we think the abundance of life comes from indulging in the stuff of the here and now. I know mentally those of us who follow Christ wouldn't want that to be true, but I think it is by and large...because of how we apply our faith and how we live in the world around us. We don't seem like aliens. Isn't that what Scripture calls us to be, aliens here on earth (that's not rhetorical...it's a real question!). So instead of learning how I'm to live in a socially acceptable way the greater calling is how I'm to live as an alien here.
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What might that look like?
