I Pledge Allegiance?

“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Mark 12:17

Those who wield political power have a just claim upon our lives and energies. They serve as God’s agents in the world, exercising his authority. We are instructed, therefore, to pay taxes in their support and to show them honor (Romans 13:6-7). Praying for them, we lighten their load, and this has the benefit of bringing blessing into our own lives (1 Timothy 2:2). Those in authority have every right to expect from us willing and diligent service in support of maintaining an ordered and just society. We must not, then, resist their rule but accept it as a manifestation of God in the world. This is rendering to Caesar the things that are his.

However, as C. S. Lewis observes, “He who surrenders himself without reservation to the temporal claims of a nation, or a party, or a class is rendering to Caesar that which, of all things, most emphatically belongs to God: himself” (Learning in a Time of War). When we do not maintain an inner loyalty to God we fall prey to seducing patriotism, tradition, social status, or some other of the many worldly values that seek to rule us.

The ability of Daniel and his friends to prosper while in exile was because they seemed to understand what Jesus was talking about. They would give to Nebuchadnezzar what he had a right to expect, but they would not allow him to possess their souls. Throughout their captivity, they remain “inner strangers to the life and culture in which they are outwardly and fully involved” (Ronald Wallace, Daniel, p. 39).

Here is a model for us. We, too, feel the loss of the familiar as we sojourn in what seems to be an increasingly foreign land. Yet, as did the young men of the exile, we can learn the language and wisdom of those around us without forsaking our allegiance to the One who has placed us here.