I am sure that at least once in your life you have had someone ask you where you live, not a specific address, but a general location, which part of the planet do you reside in. Generally, this is after the initial cordial openings, but it can be the first question that leads to one particular event that can alter a person’s entire perspective of you, if you have asked the question of them.
The way we appear to others is of course the first opportunity for judgmental ideas, but this question puts a place on a face, so to speak, it informs the one asking the question of their perception of how you think, at least in their mind. The proof? “And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.” (John 1:46) Certain people, from a certain place, act a certain way, and the generalized actions of the people that live in that local inform others, at least in their own perception, that you, since you are from there, are like those who live there.
I have no idea why Nathanael thought that everyone and everything in Nazareth was despicable, but he did, so when people ask me where I’m from, or where I live, I can find no context for the statement save for their own personal interest, yet I have found that almost always they have made a judgement call on who they believe me to be because of those two answers given, if indeed I choose to give them. I believe I might start altering that answer though, I think I might start telling them I’m from heaven, if nothing else to see the look on their face, but for the most part to be able to start a profitable conversation right from the start.
“But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” (Heb. 11:16) If you are being transformed by the renewing of your mind, (Romans 12:2) if indeed we are nothing more than pilgrims and sojourners (1 Chr. 29:15) here on this earth, then the answer would be truth. The question for you though is this, do you behave as an ambassador of the kingdom of God, are you acting as if you live here, or do others see you as if you do not belong here.
Born-again believers speak of invisible things, we are not to spend our time attempting to fit in, we are not here to solve the world’s problems, we are here to glorify God and we do that by speaking to others about His Son Jesus Christ, that is not only our responsibility, it is our honor and privilege. We are anxious for nothing, (Phil. 4:6) we expect the world to behave as it does, sinful, prideful, and unbelieving, those in it are moved about quite easily by our adversary, and so when they act unbelieving we expect that.
What they do not expect is for us to speak to them about Christ, and so immediately they are caught off guard, as it were, they were expecting a conversation about current events of the world, not the subject matter of the world to come, not about their eternal soul and their need for a Savior, not about their sin. If you thought that they were going to be making a judgement call about the way you look or where you were born at, wait until you start speaking about Christ.
It is the way of Satan, it always has been, keep their minds on the temporary, on that which is considered important in the here and now of their life, and keep the thoughts of their own death as far away as possible from them. So then, why do we not say, “I’m from heaven”? Good question, but I cannot answer that for you, perhaps it seems to forward, perhaps you are embarrassed of Christ still, perhaps you think you need to get to know each other better first, you have to answer that question yourself, but you have no way of knowing if you will ever see that person again, and God does not do chance, luck, or coincidences, they are in front of you for a reason, and since we only have one purpose in this life as believers in Christ, it should be easy for you to figure out what that reason is.
