My mind was full of the imagery of the angel’s comments. It was spinning with the ramifications of his statements. As I tried to get my mind around the significance of his remarks I became very aware of the fact that I was under new leadership, new management, I had a new identity, and my temporary home was a new colony. My king and new commander is Jesus who appeared to all men teaching us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good (Titus 2:11-14).
My new citizenship is the kingdom of God, a future hope whole at the same time a present reality. This changes everything. I am an alien and stranger in this temporary earthly place. While on earth I am to abstain from sinful desires which war against my soul. I am to live in such a way among the fallen that though they may accuse me of many things they will see my good deeds and glorify my King whom I serve (1 Peter 2:11-12).
My mind quickly went to comments I had read some time ago but wasn’t clear until now. I remember reading once where a follower of Christ by the name of Alister McGrath, Christian historian and theologian, said “that we should think of ourselves, our churches, and our families as “colonies of heaven, as outposts of the real eternal city, who seek to keep its laws in the midst of alien territory.” In my mind I also remembered similar remarks from a favorite writer of mine, C.S. Lewis, famed author of Mere Christianity and Chronicles of Narnia. In thinking about the Christian life, Lewis sees the world “as enemy territory, territory occupied by invading forces.
Building on this theme, McGrath adds that “In the midst of this territory, as resistance groups are the communities of faith.” He goes on to say that “we must never be afraid to be different from the world around us. It is very easy for Christians to be depressed by the fact that the world scorns our values and standards. But the image,” he says, “of the colony sets this in its proper perspective. At Philippi the civilizing laws of Rome contrasted with the anarchy (a state of lawlessness or political disorder) of its hinterland (regions outside of Rome).
And so,” he continues, “our moral vision—grounded in Scripture, sustained by faith, given intellectual spine by Christian doctrine—stands as a civilizing influence in the midst of a world that seems to have lost its moral way.”
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