“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Philippians 3:20-21

Hey, me again I know it has been a couple weeks, but I never left. I was dedicating all my time to a couple drawing projects. I had to learn a new style and technique for one and had to go back to an old style and technique for another. I am going to try to post at least once to twice a week. I want to do this to keep myself sane and not overload myself (like I have done in the past), but also so the posts do not get lost in translation. I just want to be realistic. 

Growing up I have always been obsessed and fascinated with space and science. It was never my best subject, but it was something that always intrigued me. However, it started to take off (no pun tended) in 2015. This was ironically the same time my love for the Rubik’s Cube was birthed. This was also the same time, and a big reason for my further love of science and space, that Logic (one of my favorite rappers) released one of my favorite (and it usually is #1) album of all time. This album was called, The Incredible True Story (And Transformation of the Man Who Saved the World). Not to go into much detail, since it really is not the point of this devotional, but 2015 was a super rough year for me both mentally and emotionally. This was the same year I got cut from my first college’s baseball team and my whole life was flipped on its head. But you can read that in my testimony, which ironically, I dedicated my life to Christ 3 years ago this week (podcast to come soon for this? I hope so).

The Incredible True Story means a lot to me. It was and is album I can put on and get lost in the songs. I can feel the songs, the lyrics, and the beats. For me it is sort of a safe haven. Every time I listen to it, I fall in love with it all over again. To me this album meant being your own person and not caring what other people think about who you are. In the rap, everything is usually about sex, money, and drugs; but this album was about space, science, and video games (things that are deemed uncool and nerdy). These are all things that I love and things that are my escape from the downfalls of this world. This is why I loved it, it made me feel like I had a voice in a society that usually shuts it down. It was where two of my worlds collided, a place where I felt the most comfortable. Re-listening to this album and I am getting goosebumps at all the same spots. One of my favorite parts of the album is the concept. Here is Logic explaining some of it (warning there is cussing), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJC12BMlyA4&t=185s. I love how he incorporates the skits between the songs with the album itself, and how some of the lyrics do match up with the concept. The concept actually in a sense kind of goes along with what I want this devotional to be about. There are two guys named Kai and Thomas, they are on a mission  to find a new planet, Paradise, for all of humanity to live on and call home. In this alternate universe that Logic created life on Earth is no longer livable, because the human race destroyed it because of their own greed. This is something that is technically very realistic. 

Like I explain on my homepage (http://www.vertedartwork.com/) to me the astronaut is a symbol of Christianity. To me, the astronaut means “not of this world.” Astronauts spend most of their career preparing to be in space. They go through tests, procedures, and even simulations to see if they are ready for the big leap and honor of going into space. One of my favorite things about space is that there is not anything, meaning there is no race, there is no nationality, no one owns anything, in a sense there is no rules. When you go into space you are no longer on this world and you are no longer within in the restrictions of this world. This is something as Christians we have to remember and strive for, we are not of this world. We are destined for something greater that is above and something that is greater than what the pleasures of this world offer us.

Philippians 3:20-21 says, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” 

This is a scripture that is still relevant to today, especially here in the United States. Paul wrote this letter to the church in Philippi. Philippi was a prosperous Roman colony and they were proud of it (Acts 16:21), they dressed like Romans and often spoke Latin. Many of the Philippians were retired military who had been given land in the vicinity to in turn serve as a military presence. There was not a lot of Jews among them, there was not enough to even permit the building of a synagogue and this is also a reason why Paul never quoted the Old Testament (because they did not abide by it to begin with). Everything they did shouted, “Roman”. Sound familiar… ‘MERICA. Honestly, this is true very everywhere in the world. We as a human race are very prideful to where we are from. However, Paul reminds us that we are called to a higher citizenship. This world is a crazy and sinful place and we should not pride ourselves of being in it. We are all called to be citizen of heaven, and we should be eagerly waiting and longing for the coming of our Lord and Savior to bring us home. Our stay on earth is only temporary, nothing we acquire and nothing that we are will follow us to heaven, that all stays here.  

John 8:23-24 says, “But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

John 18:36 says, “Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”” 

Jesus was not of this world, but he came to this world in order to save it (John 12:45-46). He was hated by the world (John 15:18-21) in order to change the world with love. In these two passages Jesus shows us a couple things. He reminds of the death and destruction that being in the world holds. He also shows what it means to not be of this world. Jesus is literally at his death sentence and he could at any point stop it and show that he is God, but he does not. He simply reminds us that his kingdom is not of this world, and if he were, he would have stopped all this to continue to be king of this world. However, he is called to a higher throne, a throne that is in heaven at the right hand of our Father.

Matthew 16:24-26 says, “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” 

Romans 12:2 says. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

We are called to hate the things of this world. We are not supposed to be prideful of all the riches and all thing that symbolizes riches and prosperity in this world for it is only temporary. These riches and prosperity are false realities, they are not eternal. They will follow us to our grave and stay there, they will not follow us to our ascension or descension. Jesus calls us to make a radical lifesaving decision. He wants us to deny the desires of the flesh and to carry our cross daily. Today, the cross represents Jesus and salvation. However, back then the cross represented humility and death. Being crucified was one of the most humiliating and undesirable deaths known to man (one of the reasons why the crucifixion of Jesus was so powerful). During this time, as Jesus did (John 19:17), the person who was being crucified had to carry the cross he was being crucified on. These were not tiny crosses either, they were usually eight to ten feet long and most of the time weight up to 300 pounds (with it being at least 100 pounds of burden). This is the power and emphasis Jesus put on not being in the world and not falling the desires of the world. He went on then to even says, “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit the soul,” meaning back to what I stated before, the desires and riches of the world are only temporary and they lead to the destruction. They rob us of our soul and rob us of our eternal destiny.

Hebrews 13:14 says, “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.”

1 Peter 2:11-12 says, “Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

The New Living Translation version of 1 Peter 2:11 says, “temporary residents and foreigners.” We are not of this world. We are foreigners and just temporary guests on this world. This is just the one stop hotel off the end of the highway to paradise. We are all searching and striving for the city to come, Paradise.