John Wesley (1703-1791) famously said, “The world is my parish,” meaning that his call was to go into all the world where God’s image-bearers reside and to teach them the gospel.

Billy Graham noted (1918-2018) that he did not feel like he was exclusively an American citizen, but felt as if he were a citizen of the world. He demonstrated a love for all people, regardless of what they looked like or where they were from.

Jesus said, “God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16), meaning that God was calling a people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation to salvation and to be a part of His heavenly Kingdom.

When we all gather around the marriage feast of the Lamb (Revelation 19), we will gather around people from all corners of the world that are our brothers and sisters. Our political affiliations will no longer be second place, but won’t have any place. Those distinctions will be secondary to our siblinghood in Christ Jesus as citizens of heaven.

Let us get fired up about the eternal, not exclusively about the temporary. If our nationalism fires us up more than our Kingdom work in Jesus and His work on the cross and His victory in the empty tomb, them our ultimate ambitions are misplaced.