NOT LOCATION BUT LOYALTY
John Hess Yoder writes in Leadership magazine:
While serving as a missionary in Laos, I discovered an illustration of the kingdom of God. Before the colonialists imposed national boundaries, the kings of Laos and Vietnam reached an agreement on taxation in the border areas. Those who ate short-grain rice, built their houses on stilts, and decorated them with Indian-style serpents were considered Laotians. On the other hand, those who ate long-grain rice, built their houses on the ground, and decorated them with Chinese-style dragons were considered Vietnamese. The exact location of a person’s home was not what determined his or her nationality. Instead, each person belonged to the kingdom whose cultural values he or she exhibited.
So it is with us: we live in the world, but as part of God’s kingdom, we are to live according to his kingdom’s standards and values.
Vietnamese and Laotians living together, but still from different "kingdoms." It is not location, but rather loyalty, that determines which kingdom we belong to.
(From a sermon by David Flowers, "Kingdom Everywhere" 7/3/2009)