My First Allegiance

My first allegiance is not to my country.
It is not to my political party. (Do I even have one of those?)
It is not to my denomination.
It is not even to my job or my family.

My first allegiance is to my God.
As a Christian, I know that my God does not accept competition to His rightful place in our lives. He is a jealous God.

Now, I'm not saying that we should look for opportunities to betray our countries; I'm just saying that as Christians, to place your country about God is idolatrous, is sinful.

No country is a fully Christian nation. There are Christians in most (if not all) nations, but that does not make a nation Christian. Our countries do things that run against our convictions as Christians, so we should pray for them. But not even the US is a Christian nation. The US was founded to give religious freedom, the freedom to worship the way you want (or not at all).

God is a jealous God. He does not accept second place, because His only rightful place is first place. He should not and will not come after your allegiance to your country.

For me,
My top priority is to God.
My second priority is to my spouse.
My third priority is to my family (church or biological).
My fourth priority is to my work.
My fifth priority is to my country.

One of the reasons I see for disunity in the Christian church is because our identity is not primarily in our faith. We are Republican Christians. We are Democratic Christians. We are American Christians. We are Stay-at-Home-Christians. We are ________ and then Christian.

It is possible to be a Christian in the Republican party. I am grateful that God is conservative with his wrath and judgment.

It is possible to be a Christian in the Democratic party. I am grateful that God is liberal with his grace, mercy, and salvation.

But our faith must come before all other things: politics, nationality, family, etc.

Is your first allegiance to God?
Is He where your identity rests? 

What would happen if Christians around the world refused to fight each other because we don't want to kill our brothers & sisters in the faith, for a country's war?
What would happen if Christians poured out their love & support for each other, regardless of nationality, race, or anything else?
I think people would take notice of Christians & wonder what is different about them.