Acts 22:26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman.
Which Citizenship Defines You?
One of the simplest questions to state, yet sometimes one of the hardest to answer is, “Who am I?” I’ve met a number of people who I have asked, “Where are you from?” Some people will give me a quick answer. Others will pause a long time, take a deep breath, and say, “Well, I grew up in a military home,” or some such answer, and then describe the dozens of places they have lived both here and abroad. In your life today, which home most defines you? If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, you have dual citizenship. It is important then to decide which citizenship most defines you.
In Acts chapters 21-22 Paul is in some trouble. He has been preaching the gospel, and because of that, his own countrymen have become very angry with him. We read how Paul was rescued from a mob by local authorities who then tried to figure out who Paul was. The authorities found out that Paul spoke Greek and Hebrew, was a Jew, and was taught by Gamaliel in their very own town. Later on, they also found out that he was a Roman citizen.
So, who are you? That was a question that was pretty interesting for those trying to discover who Paul was. Paul had many different aspects of who he was, but at the end of the day, the one citizenship that most defined Paul was the citizenship that was described by the words “this way.”
In verse 4 Paul says, “And I persecuted this way unto the death.” “This way” was the way of those who were following the Lord Jesus Christ whether they were Jew, Gentile, Greek, Roman or something else. Paul was most defined by his heavenly citizenship.
You need to decide which citizenship most defines you because the decisions you make will hinge on that. Many people find their identity primarily in the school from which they graduated or from the state in which they live. I thank God for all these things, but the primary citizenship that should inform all others is one’s citizenship in Heaven. Those who are following “this way” with the Apostle Paul were not defined by the countries from which they came, but by the country to which they were going, a heavenly country. Remember, you are going to make the best decisions when you keep in mind your citizenship in Heaven.