- Visit our stand at the Freed-Hardeman University Lectureship this week.
- Get Stan Mitchell’s new ebook, Reality Check. Proceeds go to the FHU Bible Scholarship Fund.
GLASGOW, Scotland (BNC) by Jon Galloway — It is almost unbelievable. We are finally here … and out. Well, at least out in name and no longer having seats in the European Parliament. There is still a lot of negotiating to be done.
It has taken quite a bit of time to get to this point. From the time of the vote on 23rd June 2016 to the leave day of 31st January 2020, leaving the EU has dominated politics. We have seen three different prime ministers in office and at the last election we saw the downfall of two of the opposition party leaders.
And we have had a new word enter our language: Brexit.
Jon Galloway, Glasgow, Scotland
People have mixed feelings over our country leaving the European Union. Some cannot remember a time when we were not part of the EU, while others remember Britain joining the European Economic Community on 1st January 1973. Many would emphasise that joining the EEC didn’t define Britain, that we were already a nation.
Many fear what will happen over the next few years because in many ways we are stepping out into the unknown. And the unknown can be frightening.
Let me suggest a few things that we should consider.
As Christians, our allegiance and citizenship should not be defined by which country we live in. The apostle Paul wrote to Christians in Philippi, a Roman colony, reminding them: “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour 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 NIV).
Although which country holds our citizenship tends to define us, we are not be be defined by such “earthly things” (Philippians 3:19). We are more than the accident of our birth. Many choose to live in another country altogether. But ultimately our citizenship belongs to heaven. This is what should truly shape us and our thinking. This is where our allegiance should be.
Although we are no longer in the EU we must not view those who are in the EU as being inferior to us or as our enemies. We have brothers and sisters in Christ who reside in the EU yet they, too, have their citizenship in heaven. Because we have a Saviour who unites us because we are in him, it matters not what physical country we are from. We are all one body in Jesus.
In the view of eternity, it matters not if we are in the EU or out of it. It matters not whether we are British, French, German, Irish – or even English, Scottish, Welsh, or from Ulster. What matters is whether or not we are in Jesus. It is Jesus who has real power, not political governments. It is Jesus who has the power to transform these lowly bodies to be like his glorious body – which he will do when he brings life on earth to an end.
To be in or not to be in … the real question is: are we in Jesus? Are we living for him?
This article is published with permission from Christian Worker, a monthly news periodical for UK congregations. Readers may subscribe for free at this link.
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