The Pilgrim Path---Philippians 3: 20 

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…”

THE SUPREME AUTHORITY

From George Washington’s “Inaugural Speech to Both Houses of Congress,” April 30, 1789:

“Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes…No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step be which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and, in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted cannot be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage…We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps finally, staked on the experiment…”

“A Christian is just as much under obligation to obey God’s will in the most secular of his daily business as he is in his closet (in prayer) or at the communion table. He has no right to separate his life into two realms, and acknowledge different moral codes in each respectively---to say the Bible is a good rule for Sunday, but this is a week-day question; or the Scriptures are the right rule in matters of religion, but this is a question of business or of politics. God reigns over all everywhere. His will is the supreme law in all relations and actions. His inspired Word, loyally read, will inform us of His will in every relation and act of life, secular as well as religious; and the man is a traitor who refuses to walk therein with scrupulous care. The kingdom of God includes all sides of human life, and it is a kingdom of absolute righteousness. You are either a loyal subject or a traitor. When the King comes, how will he find you doing?” (A. A. Hodge, Evangelical Theology, pp. 280-281)

Christian’s are “citizens of heaven” on the earth. We are “here” for the Living Christ. This affects everything:

---how we do our work

---how we live in retirement

---how we raise our children

---how we handle social media

---how we deal with our spouse

---how we spend our money

---how we treat our enemies

---how we make our plans

---how we run our business

---how we demonstrate in public

---how we engage opposing views

---how we suffer

---how we treat the Church

---how we handle the Bible

---how we reveal that Jesus is our Master

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3: 3

All to Jesus I surrender,

All to him I freely give;

May I ever love and trust him,

In his presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all,

All to thee, my blessed Savior,

I surrender all.

Grace and Peace in Jesus Christ Our Risen LORD, Pastor Jason