Reading about the 23 people of nine nationalities who became New Zealand citizens not long ago, in our local paper, reminds me of the time when I became a CITIZEN OF HEAVEN. (The Northland Age, Tuesday, July 9, 2019)

The 23 people took the oath or affirmation of allegiance before the mayor at Te Ahu here in Kaitaia.

But what is now a Christian? A Christian is a man who has been translated from the KINGDOM OF DARKNESS into the KINGDOM OF LIGHT, the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of glory.

The citizenship of a Christian is now in heaven.

We are reading about our Heavenly Citizenship in the Bible:

• Luke 10:20 Source of Real Joy
• Luke 22:30 Assures Future Exaltation
• John 14:2 Promises a Permanent Residence
• Philippians 3:20 Furnishes an Undying Hope
• 1 Peter 1:4 Provides a Glorious Inheritance
• Revelation 21:27 A Register is kept of the Names of the Citizens

I surely remember the time when I became a citizen of Heaven, when I became a Christian, when the Lord translated me from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son.

I was still in my teens and is was in Germany.

“Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” – Mark Twain

“Tick the verses as you go to keep record,” it says on page five in THE WORD FOR TODAY (August – September 2019), I picked up last Sunday. It is all about reading through the Bible in one year.

“You can do it!” I am reading at the top of a page almost at the end of one of my Bibles. The words are also meant to encourage me to read through the entire Bible in one year.

So far as I remember I had even a Bible reading plan with boxes to be ticked pinned to the wall, but I did not achieve anything, until the time came when I read the Bible from cover to cover like any other book and every word twice in one year, without ticking any verses (boxes).