Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Flag Not Equal To God

“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else. I will not share my praise with carved idols.” -- Isaiah 42:8

The other day I was driving down the interstate listening to contemporary Christian music … or so I thought. The DJ had an agenda and it didn’t include music.

It seems that a city council somewhere out west -- Oregon or Washington, I don’t remember which -- was having a fuss over whether they should say the Pledge of Allegiance before the council meeting began. From what the DJ said, the council had always done that but suddenly one of the council members didn’t want to do it anymore.

Well, naturally I agreed that the council should say the Pledge of Allegiance. I’m an American. I gladly say the Pledge of Allegiance. What’s the big deal? Nobody has to say it if they don’t want to. It’s called the First Amendment. But we should be thrilled to be able to say it. I guess at that moment I fit right in with that conservative majority.

I quickly changed to the liberal side. I really couldn’t believe what I was hearing, from both the DJ and the callers. On a Christian radio station! The flag and God are NOT equal. Pledging allegiance to the flag is NOT the same as pledging allegiance to God. Nope. Not at all. Not even in the same arena. God is above everything and all things, including people who are using His name to stir controversy and further their own agenda.

It’s that kind of political hysteria that gives all Christians the label of “hypocrites.” We claim to put God above all things -- and some of us actually try to do that -- and then someone launches a campaign that goes against that very thing.

I don’t want to in any way diminish the value of the flag or what it means to our country. I strongly support our troops and consider myself to be very patriotic. But my God is my God. There is no one above Him. Not country or flag or people. He is the Creator of all things. How can anyone -- especially someone on a Christian radio station -- claim that a flag is equal to God? Because whether that DJ fully realized it or not, that’s exactly what he was doing.

Whether right or wrong, all Christians are labeled with the same brush. When we mess up, it doesn’t just impact on us or even on other Christians. It impacts on how others see God. We need to be very careful how we portray Him so that everyone realizes how great God truly is.