Article December 10, 2018 Issue

‘Citizens … of the household of God’

Madeline Cassidy

I’ve been thinking and praying about the difficulties migrants are facing in many corners of the world. This issue appears to be so complex and heartbreaking that at times I have felt inadequate to pray about it. But one day an angel message came to me showing how I might pray. It also gave me a fresh view of a familiar Bible story: the parable of the prodigal son, as told by Christ Jesus (see Luke 15:11–32).

In this story, a son is eager to leave home and asks his father for his inheritance. He heads off to a “far country” and wastes his inheritance, leaving him destitute and desperate. He ultimately decides to head back to his native land, believing he is no longer worthy to be called his father’s son, but hoping he can work as one of his father’s hired servants. But he gets much more than this: The father greets him with open arms, and his position as a loved and honored son is reinstated (or rather, newly affirmed)—and, it may be added, amid much joy and celebration.

This story always gives me so much to think about, and on this particular morning I asked God to give me a new insight as to how I could better relate the story’s moral to myself and others. Then this thought came: “You are not a dual citizen.” This was an eye-opener. To be sure, there are times when there can be definite advantages, from a human standpoint, to having dual citizenship. But I asked myself what this message could mean spiritually.

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