But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Philippians 3:20-21

Do you remember seeing the first Matrix film? It seemed like a quantum leap in film making – rotating 3D views of bullets as they flew through the air, only to see Neo and his buddies dodge them – and, if you’re anything like me, you probably wondered what it would be like to do that? How would it change my life?

So what if you knew that you had been completely forgiven? Forgiven to the point that you could stand without fear in the presence of a God who cannot bear to look on evil and is, by his own admission, a consuming fire. What if you knew that even though you look like everyone else, you are in fact a new creation – born again by the spirit of God. And as you find longings inside yourself that nothing on earth can satisfy, what conclusion do they lead you to?

Regardless of where you came from, when you came to Christ, your destination became all that mattered. You were born again. You have a new identity, with new allegiances and new ambitions.

Knowing that will transform the way we live now: to live meaningfully, we must live forwards. The direction, the trajectory, of our lives should strain towards the future God plans for us, not be shackled by the past he saved us from. It won’t take us all the way – that requires divine intervention by the Sovereign God who made and controls the universe. Even if we can’t sail there in our own strength, let’s still point our tillers of our lives toward our new home.

Because God’s given us new passports.