安娜和她丈夫帶著兩個孩子住在阿根廷。他們行事低調，不與他人來往，跟阿根廷人一樣只說流利的西班牙語。但他們不是阿根廷人，而是臥底特工，是來自另一個國家的間諜。他們掌握了融入當地文化的技巧，包括使用叉子等細節。但他們戶籍上的變更引起了懷疑，使這對夫婦最終被捕，一家人被遣返他們真正的祖國。在回國的飛機上，安娜看著她11歲的女兒，不知道該如何告訴女兒，他們真正的身分與國籍。

信耶穌的人有個更重要的身分與國籍，我們是至高君王的使者，因我們是「天上的國民」（腓立比書3章20節）。腓立比居民以他們的羅馬公民身分為榮，他們住在腓立比，忠心為羅馬效力。保羅指出他們的忠心需要提升層次，他們最高的忠心對象是耶穌，這位從天上統治羅馬和腓立比的大君王。

我們在世上雖然是寄居的，但與安娜和她丈夫不一樣。我們沒有暗中對抗我們的「寄居之地」，而是光明正大地為寄居之地的福祉而努力。我們對耶穌的忠心促使我們服事鄰舍，並為「一切有權位的懇求、……好讓我們可以敬虔莊重地過……日子」（提摩太前書2章2節，新譯本）。讓我們靠著上帝的幫助，為我們居住的城市「求平安，為那城禱告耶和華，因為那城得平安」，我們「也隨著得平安」（耶利米書29章7節）。

Anna and her husband lived in Argentina with their two children. They kept to themselves and spoke only fluent Spanish. But they weren’t Argentines. They were sleeper agents, spies who’d been born in another country. They’d mastered blending into their host culture, down to how to hold their forks. But a change in their civil registry aroused suspicion, and eventually the couple was caught. As the family was being flown to their true homeland, Anna looked at her eleven-year-old daughter. How would she break the news that they weren’t who her daughter thought?

Believers in Jesus have a citizenship even more vital. We’re agents of a higher king, for “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). The citizens of Philippi were proud of their Roman citizenship; they loyally served Rome as they lived in Philippi. Paul said their loyalty stretched even further. Their highest allegiance was to Jesus, who ruled Rome and Philippi from heaven.

Unlike Anna and her husband, we’re not working secretly against our “host country.” We’re openly working for its good. Our loyalty to Jesus prompts us to serve our neighbors and pray for “all those in authority, that we may live . . . in all godliness” (1 Timothy 2:2). With God’s help we will “seek the peace and prosperity” of our city. We will “pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers,” we “too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:7).