The Christian:
Citizen of Heaven Living on Earth

By A. W. Tozer

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness
of the firmament; and they that turn many to
righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
Daniel 12:3

    Let a man become enamored of Eternal Wisdom and
set his heart to win her and he takes on himself a fulltime,
all-engaging pursuit! Thereafter his whole life will be filled
with seekings and findings, self-repudiations, tough
disciplines and daily dyings as he is being crucified unto
the world and the world unto him.

    The regenerated man has been inwardly separated
from society as Israel was separated from Egypt at the
crossing of the Red Sea. The Christian is a man of
heaven temporarily living on earth. Though in spirit
divided from the race of fallen men he must yet in the
flesh live among them. In many things he is like them
but in others he differs so radically from them that they
cannot but see and resent it.

    From the days of Cain and Abel the man of earth has
punished the man of heaven for being different. The
long history of persecution and martyrdom confirms
this.

    But, we must not get the impression that the
Christian life is one of continuous conflict, one
unbroken irritating struggle against the world, the
flesh and the devil.

    A thousand times no!

    The heart that learns to die with Christ soon knows
the blessed experience of rising with Him, and all the
world's persecutions cannot still the high note of holy
joy that springs up in the soul that has become the
dwelling place of the Holy Spirit!
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Yours in Christ,
Paul N. F.