There is really only one absolute to whom we should pledge our allegiance. And that is God.

That means, sometimes, we should be unpatriotic because we are choosing God over our country.

Sometimes, we should be disloyal to our boss because we are choosing God over our job.

Sometimes, we should be disloyal to our friends because we are choosing God over friends.

Sometimes, we should be unfaithful even to our family because we are choosing God over them.

When king of Israel, Zedekiah, was making a stand against the king of Babylon, the Prophet Jeremiah tells him to do the unpatriotic thing and surrender! Israel’s advisors want to kill Jeremiah for suggesting such unpatriotic sentiment. But it was not a sentiment. It was the word of the Lord! God was telling the king to surrender to a foreign king through His prophet. (Jeremiah 41)

But the nation Israel was the stalwart of Old Testament covenant. They are to be established forever! How then can they succumb to an evil and cruel nation like Babylon? But that was God’s way. And there is nothing absolute about anything except God.

In our upbringing, we are cultured to believe that certain things are absolute. For me, it’s family. For you, it might be something else. Dignity, maybe? Respect? Education? Friends? But sometimes, for the sake of following God, we must forsake these “absolutes”. Because, really, there is only one absolute. And that is God.

PH