Sacrifice

Sadly, most of us natural born United States citizens take our citizenship for granted. We just do. We forget the incredible sacrifices that have been made, and we do not know what it is like to go through the rigorous painstaking process of becoming a legal citizen and upon meeting each requirement stand and proclaim—
“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.”
Similarly, Christians are often indifferent to the many sacrifices that made a way for us to know Christ. We take our citizenship in heaven for granted. The apostle Paul wanted the church at Ephesus to reclaim their citizenship in heaven and out of sheer gratitude for all that Christ had done for them, make a way for others to belong. Paul urged them to release the past and denounce all allegiance to old idols.