Behave as Citizens of Heaven

Keys for Kids Daily Devotional for December 5, 2007
TITLE: Aliens
SCRIPTURE: Philippians 3:20- 21; 4:1
AUDIO: listen here
THE STORY FOR TODAY:
"Aliens! There go the aliens!" Ginny and her friend Alicia cringed as the taunting cries followed them. They had once again refused to join the activities of a certain group of classmates. The two girls had so often separated themselves from the bad behavior of other kids their age that they had been dubbed "aliens" by some of them.
Ginny sighed. "My mother keeps reminding me not to give in to the temptation to be like those kids," she remarked, "but I don't think she knows what it's like for us in school these days."
"Yeah," agreed Alicia. "My mom keeps saying I should 'just say no' to drugs and smoking, but nobody has even asked me to say 'yes,' yet. If they did, I don't think it would be so hard to say 'no.' I don't want any part of drugs. But sometimes I feel like going along with some stuff the kids do-like looking at the magazines they pass around. Or laughing at some of those bad jokes they like to tell. If we did that, maybe they wouldn't call us names all the time."
At home that evening, Ginny told her parents about the name-calling. "Ever since that movie, 'Aliens from Outer Space,' came out, the kids have been calling Alicia and me aliens because we don't do the things they do," she complained. "I wish that movie had never been made."
"I know it's hard, honey," sympathized Mom.
Dad nodded. "But I guess it's not so strange for them to call you that," he said with a smile. "You really are aliens, you know."
"Dad!" exclaimed Ginny. "We are not!"
"Yes, you are," insisted Dad. "You girls have both accepted Jesus as Savior, so now you're not 'of the world' anymore. You're just passing through it. You're different, because you live for Jesus, and your citizenship is really in heaven."
"Wow! I'll have to tell that to Alicia," said Ginny with a sigh.
Mom nodded. "If kids call you names, remember you're not an alien to God," she suggested. "Perhaps that will make it easier to bear."
MEMORY VERSE: Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20
HOW ABOUT YOU? Do kids pressure you to join in ungodly things? Do they tease you when you refuse? Perhaps you don't find it hard to say "no" to such things as smoking, drinking, or doing drugs, but you're tempted to laugh at dirty jokes, show disrespect to a teacher, or do some other thing you know is wrong. Don't do it. If you belong to Jesus, you don't belong to this world. Live to please Him even when you're not accepted by others. Act the way a citizen of heaven should act.
THE KEY: Behave as a citizen of heaven