Many things compete for our allegiance. And many of these are good things. But we must never forget our primary allegiance is to Christ alone. Above all we are citizens in his kingdom and everything else is a distant second at best.
Of course, this doesn’t mean we completely disengage from life in this world. We remain free to work for the best interest of our jobs, families, communities, country, and the like. In fact, our faithfulness in these areas might be our reasonable service in God’s kingdom. But we must not let our freedom cause us to lose our way – being seduced to put someone or something else on the throne above Christ.
For instance, this might be selling our soul to a job that steals our love away from Christ. We become more concerned with the bottom line at work and appeasing these stakeholders that our life with God has grown cold.
This might also be the temptation to look to political leaders or social policies more than Christ to bring about the life and goodness we desire. While we’re free to vote and advocate for the social causes important to us, we must still consider where we have anchored our ultimate hope.
Likewise, even in our homes, as much as we’re called to love and care for each other, this love is secondary to our heart’s affection for Christ. To be sure, this is not a justification to neglect our duty of love to them, but simply a reminder that Christ is above even our most cherished relationships in this life.
We cannot be effective in God’s kingdom when our allegiance is not wholeheartedly given to him.
In the end, be a good steward of all your relationships. But keep your allegiance to Christ in its rightful place above all else.
