The Worthy Life
Thirty-one years ago, in 1986, Becky and I took a group of young people to a country music concert at Austin-Peay State University. The featured artist was Lee Greenwood and needless to say, everyone enjoyed it. The last song he sang that evening had everyone one their feet — it was “God Bless the U.S.A.”.
The chorus begins with the words “I am proud to be an American where at least I know I am free” and ends with “Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land, God bless the USA.” In spite of the problems we see around us, we take great pride in what this country stands for, its great ideals. When we travel outside of this country we aren’t ashamed to say, “I am a U.S. citizen. But we also recognize that our citizenship requires certain things of us.
When Paul wrote to his Christian brothers and sisters in Philippi, he knew how much they cherished their Roman citizenship and sought to live as good Romans citizens.
He also wanted them to think about another citizenship they enjoyed and how important it was that they live as good citizens of that realm as well.
In Philippians 3:20 he wrote, “our citizenship is in heaven.”
So, when he wrote “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” (1:27), he called upon them to live as good citizens of their true home.