working against family, church, or country?

Living in the Kingdom of God now and within the human institutions of family, church and country, the disciple has the tension of loyalty to the institutions subjugated to loyalty to Jesus. But how do you live as a disciple within this tension?

We are called to serve. We are called to work for the good will of others so that what God wants for them is more likely to be a reality. This is always done with the humility and graciousness. This is done knowing we could be wrong. Using the Bible as our guide, we serve and bring benefit for others best we see fit.

Do we ever work against family, church, and country? In extraordinary circumstances, yes. Loyalty to the way of Jesus always takes priority. A rule of thumb would be this. Work against that which forces you to commit sin. Be willing to suffer the human consequences for this. You need to be very clear from scripture that what family, church or country is forcing you to do is directly a violation of God’s ways. Again, this would always be done with much humility and honesty that you may be wrong in God’s big picture. What would be examples of this? I will give some in the next few days.