Here’s the basic overused plot: An alien, whether from another country, another world or an angel, comes to America on a mission. The mission is either to help someone/everyone or to conquer someone/everyone. However, the alien soon becomes enamored with life in America and faces the temptation to abandon the mission to pursue his/her own self-interest.

Sounds stupid, doesn’t it? I credit the appeal of this story line to our in-bred American arrogance. Seriously, do we really believe that someone from a more advanced civilization, or better yet, a resident of Heaven, would find life in American so appealing they would want to defect and become an American? I don’t think so.

So why, then, is this the story line of the church in America? Most of us don’t have to look any further than our bathroom mirror to see that this is true. As members of The Church, we are citizens of Heaven. That is our home. We have been instructed not to lay up treasures on this Earth, but to put our treasure in Heaven. We are to be the salt of the Earth (and not lose our savor). Jesus’ prayer for us was that we would be in the world, but not of the world. We are to be what has been termed resident aliens – as Larry Norman put it so well, we are only visiting this planet.

So… what happened? What is it about the American Dream that has caused millions of Christians to become of this world? Consider this:

"The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful." Matthew 13:22.

You of course will recognize this passage as part of the parable of the sower (better referred to as the parable of the soil). In the parable, the farmer walks along sowing seeds; some of the seeds fell among thorns. Unlike some of the seed, these plants took root and grew. However, the thorns grew faster, and choked the life out of the plants. "The worries of this world, and the deceitfulness of wealth…" All of us who are currently worrying about things of this world, raise your hand… (I confess my hand is up).

In how many ways did Jesus try to tell us not to become materialistic – i.e. of this world? Remember the rich young ruler? How hard is it for materialists to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?

As I was meditating on the parable of the sower, it occurred to me that there is one big difference between the various types of soil in the parable and us. Unlike the soil in the parable, most of us have some options in deciding what kind of soil we will be. In other words, we have the luxury of choosing our own thorns. The rich young ruler was given the option of weeding his soil, but he decided he liked the thorns too much.

Thorns, of course, are deceptive, as the parable states, to natives and aliens alike. They can produce some wonderfully beautiful flowers, and also provide an appearance of safety (lions, tigers and bears don’t like thorns). But at what expense? We have no way of knowing the true cost of allowing a few thorns to invade our life. A new house, perhaps a new car, maybe a new entertainment center – just a few more distractions and a few more bills to cause us just a little more worry. And through it all we forget that we are to depend on God for our every need. "The worries of this world, and the deceitfulness of wealth…"

What thorns have we planted in our lives? What affect are they having on our spiritual lives? Will we ever know? We won’t know, unless we are willing to start pulling the thorns out down to the root. I think we would be amazed at the fruit that could grow, if we only gave it the chance. Perhaps then we would see some revival happening. Maybe then God would grant us that mustard seed of faith, if He saw that it had a chance of survival.

It’s time for us – the Church, the true resident aliens of the world – to shake off the chokehold that we have allowed the native culture to have on us and for us to start living like we are indeed aliens. We need to rediscover what it means to be citizens of Heaven. I don’t think dual citizenship is a viable option for us.