Breaking ties brings great freedom! As a counselor, I challenge my clients to respectfully question everything and to keep what is good and trash what is not. Live, learn, move on, help others, Praise God.
I would hope that if asked to list favorable attributes of mine, that friends would list loyalty among the top characteristics. Loyalty is certainly something that I look for in any type of relationship. However, old soul that I am, I find myself on a lifelong soul-search. One of the things that I've come to find about myself on my journey is that it's the blind allegiances that have held me back. I am learning that loyalty is admirable, but blind loyalty is stupid.
Growing up and into my formative years, I was blindly loyal to many things because I felt that I was supposed to be. I was certain that my denomination was superior. Ditto, my community, my county, state, and nation . . . and of course my region of the nation.
This allegiance was the same for the political party of which I was affiliated. Also, with friends and family. Even down to the type of music with which I most identified.
I believed that loyalty=good, disloyal=bad. With this narrow, limited mindset I found myself defending some very disturbing nouns - people, places, and things.
In my denominational loyalty, I found myself believing that people outside of it couldn't be saved. I was the elementary school child condemning young Baptists for their piano music.
Being a proud American, I felt that Southerners were the elite. Arkansans were even better. Randolph Countians better yet. Maynard-ians best of the best.
As a proud Democrat, I was excited to defend Civil Rights, the Environment, Health Care, Clinton's Economy, Education, and many other things that I prided Democrats in supporting. I squirmed when attempting to defend other parts of my party's platform, abortion primarily. (Not that I believe the opposition's all talk, no results is superior.) In fact, I would have difficulty defending either party's position on this, but that's another blog, another day.
With all of these loyalties, I had become someone I was not. I was a member of the Frozen Chosen Church who felt superior in my religion. I was an American who felt superior to those of other countries and a Southerner who was certain that I was better than the expletive Yankees. I was an Arkansan bragging about the Clintons, Johnny Cash, John Grisham, Sam Walton, General Wesley Clark, and depending upon my mood, I even claimed Mike Huckabee. With my musical loyalties, I even had to embarrassingly claim "Achy Breaky Heart" because it was within the genre that I was loyal to. I took up for family members and friends even when their actions were indefensible.
Make no mistake, I love what was good and right about all of the above. I learned much in my home church and my family's longtime denominational allegiance. I consider it a foundation, one that I've elected to build upon. I am so proud to be an American and the grandson of two WWII vets, though I don't find it unpatriotic to voice a concern about an action that our beloved country has taken (HELLO: Trail of Tears, Slavery!!). I love my native South for what I find so right about it, yet I despise parts of our history especially in the areas where it continues to needlessly repeat itself. Arkansas will always be my home and my beloved Northeast Arkansas will always have a hold on me. However, I refuse to buy into the inferiority complex that seems to grip the region. I won't be limited by geography. My last name and my upbringing will not dictate how I vote, how I church, or how I think.
Even with my music, I've allowed myself to have better taste. If and when country music is good, I love it, but I'm alright with saying that "beer is good, God is great, people are crazy" is pretty lyrically ridiculous.
Breaking ties has brought such freedom! I've discarded most of the aforementioned loyalties in search of absolute truth as opposed to the relative truth that I had settled for. In so doing, I've been able to focus on what I'm meant and designed to focus on and waste much less time in defending the indefensible.
The first of the Ten Commandments says (commands), ". . thou shalt have no other gods before Me." I notice that 'gods' is not capitalized, for there is One. In the Commandments, when we are told to have no other gods before Him, this isn't referring to other deities. Obviously, the Spirit who inspired the Bible would not acknowledge any such other god as real. However, as humans we do allow other things to rule us. I'm not saying this as an us/the church versus them/the world comparison. Rather, I am challenging myself and other Jesus-followers.
How can we identify as Christian when we are so plagued with other allegiances, be they political, familial, governmental, patriotic, religious, societal, cultural, economical? I hear people claim a position that is political or cultural in nature and refer to their stance as Christian and maybe they pepper a fitting (or often misapplied) Scripture verse to defend it, but the bulk of their defense smacks of very unChristlike rhetoric. Politicians of all stripes are guilty. Guilty, too, are the pastors and church leaders who claim to offer salvation or enlightenment through themselves or their church denomination, especially if your tithe envelope is overflowing! Ever notice how many politicians and pastors are driven my power and money? Neither are wrong unless it's the primary focus.
People and institutions are highly capable of manipulating us into right-seeming allegiances that should be reserved only for our Creator. How often have I found myself agreeing with much of what a Christian person or institution has said for the same to be upset with me or disappointed in me if there is an area where I don't agree with them. They reason if we say and believe that 'thus and so' is true and you believe it, then you should also agree with 'thus and so' position. Any person or institution that is not God will willingly or unwillingly lead you in a direction that is wrong. It is okay to agree with much of what a person or institution says or believes without drinking their kool-aid to the last theoretical drop.
My point is this: If we are blindly loyal to our religion, our politics, our culture and other seemingly important areas of our life, then we miss God. We are to have no other gods before Him. It's a command.
Can we really claim Jesus as LORD if we answer first to our religious or political biases? If in any way your response is "yes," then I pray that it's only secondary.
