The Final Act: Act 4 - Citizenship

In his 2010 memoir, A Journey: My Political Life, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair shares the following story: 
 
A friend of mine whose parents were immigrants, Jews from Europe who came to America in search of safety, told me this story. His parents lived and worked in New York. They were not well off. His father died when he was young. His mother lived on, and in time my friend succeeded and became wealthy. He often used to offer his mother the chance to travel outside America. She never did. When eventually she died, they went back to recover the safety box where she kept her jewelry. They found there another box. There was no key. So they had to drill it open. They wondered what precious jewel must be in it. They lifted the lid. There was wrapping and more wrapping and finally an envelope. Intrigued, they opened it. In the envelope were her U.S. citizenship papers. Nothing more. That was the jewel, more precious to her than any other possession. That was what she treasured most.

I love this story for the same reasons, the preciousness of her citizenship.  This connects so well with what I shared in my message this week on Heavenly Citizenship and how precious that citizenship should be to each of us.  As I was reading from Matthew 7 this morning, I discovered one other element of our citizenship that I know I often forget, the seeking part.  Matthew 7:7 says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find..."  

I thought to myself this morning about the message Sunday and the connect I was making this morning to Matt. 7, to seek out my citizenship and the rewards of heaven.  Maybe that is why this lovely Jewish immigrant never needed to leave the U.S., because she sought out and experienced the rewards of her citizenship.  


Randy