| Robert E. Lee's Citizenship Problem |
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3:20 But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, In my view, Robert E. Lee had a citizenship problem. President Lincoln offered Lee the command of the Union Army. However, as you know, Lee refused and instead became a Confederate general. Why?
For Lee, his first loyalty was to his state of Virginia and his second loyalty was to his nation. So when there was a conflict between the two, Lee chose to side with Virginia against the United States.
As Christians we must be careful not to choose a lesser loyality over the higher loyality. We are citizens both of a nation state and of Heaven. Our nation and Heaven will not always be in harmony.
Sometimes our nation will call on us to think and/or behave in ways contrary to the kingdom of God and the Bible. When that happens we should be very careful not to put our loyality to our nation above our loyalty to God. As Peter and John said: "We must obey God rather than man."
Here's an example: Our nation often tells young men (and now young women) to kill our enemies. However, Jesus (representing the kingdom of Heaven) says to love our enemies. When that happens, which citizenship usually wins?
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