Loyalty to the Kingdom of God and Jesus First

One of the failures of natural Israel almost from its inception has been the misunderstanding it was meant to be a light to the nations; meaning it was to not only embrace and represent who God was to one another, but to spread that across the world.

That failure was primarily the result of it time after time failing to meet the standards of God, which ended up with Israel taking on the nature of other nations, rather than being a peculiar people as they were meant to be, by showing forth the glory of God.

Now the followers of Jesus Christ are meant to take on that responsibility, by first, walking as Jesus walked, and from that total separation from the ways of the world, becoming a light to the nations in the name of Jesus Christ. That's one of the reasons believers in Christ were called Israel in the Scriptures, as the purpose of God for the natural Jews had now passed on to all of those that call upon the name of the Lord and obey Him.

That brings of the question of who we primarily owe our allegiance to. As true followers of Jesus Christ, our allegiance is and also should be first to the kingdom of God and He who heads it up. That means whatever nation on earth we may reside in only gets our loyalty secondarily; and that only in a small proportion in comparison to God's kingdom.

That doesn't suggest we become traitors or enemy combatants on behalf of one nation against another, but that the overriding nation we serve is a heavenly one, and one of our reasons for existence is to take the will of God and do it, and from there work and pray to see that and the kingdom of God increasingly be done and to come on earth.

For that reason I believe it's a mistake to think of any nation as a so-called Christian nation. While it can be true that Christianity and Christ were a part of the influence on a nation, and thus had some of the characteristics of Christ as part of the culture of that nation, the fickle nature of man, as seen in the growing decadence in the United States, reveals we can't simply call a nation a Christian nation, when what it once embraced and acknowledged is rejected for an opposing world view and ideology. America is no longer a Christian nation, and neither are many nations that once at minimum, revered Christ at least outwardly.

No matter what country any of us live in, we need to pray and work towards the kingdom of God to permeate those living in the country, as the kingdom of God is expected to fill the earth, meaning the person of Christ as revealed in the Bible will fill everything with who He is. That's what it means when we are told that God will be all in all. It's also a reference to being conformed to His image.

We are to be like Him; totally loyal to who He is. We are to learn what He want and then obey in it. Once we mature, we then share who He is with others, and also call upon those around us to obey Him.

Ultimately we not only will increase the kingdom of God in individuals, but start to work locally on transforming the many areas of life into what He wants. That includes individuals, families, education, government, the arts, and business, along with any other area of life that needs to submit unto the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

While we can appreciate the city or country we live in, that is nothing compared to the heavenly kingdom of God that we are to pray to come and fill the earth. Eventually all nations that respond to this will receive the multiple blessings of God He promises. Those that reject Him will be found to be fighting against the God of heaven and earth.

Our ultimate loyalty is to Jesus Christ and His kingdom. Everything else should be an extension of that kingdom in order to make where we live like what heaven is like. That is what Jesus had in mind when He taught us to pray for His kingdom to come and will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.