“What is the most important thing in your life?”

When asked what takes precedence in their lives, many active Christians have answered that their priorities are God, family, and their job, friends, or others. The answer is often repeated across career and social boundaries. Football players, soldiers, and politicians have all listed similar priorities: God, family, and job. This series of articles will expand on those three priorities, beginning with the first, or “God priority.”

One beginning note, however: A Christian’s priorities should serve as a guide, not necessarily a list of rules engraved in stone. Even if he has his priorities “set,” there are times that sacrifices must be made, and situations in life may require temporary adjustments to priorities to achieve a required goal or fulfill obligations. In the most obvious example, war often demands that soldiers be separated from their families for years at a time, which obviously has a negative impact on a military Christian’s “family priority.” The priority of family, though, does not override a serviceman’s duty to defend his country in time of war. Each situation, then, must be assessed on its own; in many cases, it depends…

Living the God Priority

The application of the “God priority” is largely in the personal, because regardless of the demands of duties, a Christian must still choose to make God his priority in his personal life. Whatever his spiritual habits, he must allow himself time for prayer, personal Bible reading, spiritual “stretching” that will result in growth, and communion with a church body. The God priority may mean that instead of hanging out at a squadron party late on Saturday night and being unable to get up the next morning, the military Christian goes home and goes to bed so that he’ll be coherent at church. It may mean that in his packed schedule he gives up a precious TV sitcom to have a few minutes of Bible reading. Ultimately, the God priority means that when ideas, goals, and activities conflict, a Christian values God above himself.

In the professional application, the God priority doesn’t mean that a Christian should refuse to accomplish his duty; in fact, the opposite is true. A Christian’s loyalty, devotion, and work ethic are a direct result of the priority he places on God in his life. When a Christian prioritizes God, he emphasizes obedience to God’s commands—commands that include obedience to superiors, selfless sacrifice, and exemplary work performance. Because of the value a Christian places on the God priority, he should display a praiseworthy image of God to those around him—a task best accomplished by being the best at his work that he can be.

Obedience to God is required above obedience to men, but there may still be times when legal, official duties conflict with desired spiritual activities. In those cases a Christian may need to make a change in his personal life to ensure the preeminence of the God priority. For example, if he’s required to accomplish an official duty on Sunday morning, he may need to alter his normal schedule and go to a Sunday evening service; though it consumes precious free time, he makes the extra effort because of the priority of God in his life.

In the case of a regular interruption that he cannot make up in his personal life, it is not unreasonable to ask for occasional time from a supervisor to attend to spiritual needs. For example, if he’s required to work every Sunday morning and cannot attend an alternate service, he should feel free to ask his supervisor for time to attend a service; depending on the circumstances, the supervisor may even be required to allow him time to do so. (In the Air Force, AFI 36-2706 governs the Military Equal Opportunity program and dictates guidelines regarding religious accommodation.)

Public Perceptions and the God Priority

The belief that God should be the priority in a person’s life is not limited to Christianity. Adherents to virtually every religion that claims a Supreme Being tend to believe that God should be the priority in their lives. The reason for the priority of God in a religious person’s life is fairly evident to other persons of faith—to put a mortal or earthly thing above an all-powerful God would be the greatest offense (not to mention a hypocritical contradiction). In addition, most religions that believe in an omnipotent god also believe in some form of the “hereafter;” they believe that when people die, they will face their God. Because their actions in support of their God have eternal impact, their first priority is generally their God over earthly things.

For one who does not believe in a Supreme Being, however, there is no common ground. To them, saying that a god has priority in a person’s life is claiming superiority for an imaginary or mythical being. Rather than acknowledge the consistency of believing in the supremacy of a Supreme Being, they see it as granting deference to the tooth fairy. To those that advocate the final authority of earthly institutions, the belief that there is a God above those things is folly.

The response of non-believers to the God priority generally falls along two lines: in one, the mythical belief is shrugged off with respectful deference or a smirk at the gullibility of the believer. In the other, belief in such religious folly is considered foolishness, insanity, or even suspiciously sinister—for those who are accused of taking advantage of gullible persons in a bid for power. The second reaction is becoming more common, and there are increasing voices in America that would oppose those that claim any religious belief is superior to an earthly institution.

The Impact on the Military Christian

Why should a military Christian care about opposition to the “God priority?” There are several current examples of organizations challenging the “God priorities” of religious people in government service. Mr. Michael Weinstein has accused Christians of “treason” for their beliefs. Air Force officers who mentioned the importance of their religion in their lives were the subject of a lawsuit against the Air Force in 2005. More recently, Weinstein also requested an FBI investigation of a Veterans’ Administration employee for saying

It really is a matter of saying what is important. And since that’s more important than doing the job. The job’s going to be there, whether I’m there or not.

According to the complaint, Weinstein requested that the employee be investigated for saying that “his religion…[was] more important than his job.”

Other secularists (more specifically, some atheists) have openly said that Christians who say God is their first priority are unqualified for public office and military service, where the Constitution—the supreme law of the land—should be their “true” first priority.

Such delineation displays an ignorance of basic Christianity. Most people, Christian or not, are aware that the Bible specifically commands obedience to the government and the law of man (Romans 13:1), with qualification only if it conflicts with the law of God (Acts 4:19). This “supremacy of the law of God” is often misunderstood or misquoted, and it is generally the source of those who claim that Christians will abandon American law in favor of a Biblical state. Some secularists have implied that Christians can’t be trusted in public service because they might violate the Constitution in deference to a “Divine command” from Pat Robertson, James Dobson, or the late Jerry Falwell. Though absurd on its face, the sentiment is not new.

The implication that Christians are untrustworthy due to their “divided loyalties” is identical to the opposition John F. Kennedy experienced in the 1960s. Accusations that he would bow to pressures from the Vatican led him to deliver a speech in 1960 in which he said

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant, nor Jewish—where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source…For, while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew, or a Quaker, or a Unitarian, or a Baptist.

As history records, the belief that Kennedy would subjugate the nation to the Vatican turned out to be nothing but unjustified anti-Catholic bias. It also appears Kennedy was prescient, as current events seem to indicate evangelical Christians now have the “finger of suspicion” pointed at them, particularly in the military.

Those who oppose people’s “God priority” also fail to realize that even the founders of the nation did not consider the Constitution the consummate ethical authority in America. In fact, John Adams said that the

Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Thus, the Constitution was not the “final authority,” it was made for people already under a higher authority; it relied on external sources for establishing the morality of the citizens it was intended to govern.

The concept of moral values being superior to the Constitution is itself not even a wholly religious concept. The motto of West Point, made famous in the moving speech by General Douglas MacArthur, appears to imply a supremacy of moral values in its Duty, Honor, Country. Taken in turn, the first priority is Duty—that which we must do, then Honor—that which we should do, and then Country. The implication is that if Duty or Honor conflict with Country, then Duty and Honor must be obeyed. Even if that triad were assumed to be parallel rather than sequential, the motto still implies that Duty and Honor are separate entities from Country, not defined by nor products of it. The country, or Constitution, then, is not the independent final authority.

Conclusion

Regardless of academic commentary, the “God priority” will continue to be a source of struggle for military Christians. On one hand, there will be the personal struggle to ensure that God has the proper and supreme place in their lives. On the other, there will be the public struggle led by those who say airmen, soldiers, and sailors should have no higher priority than their government. Christians should know what the Bible and their government rightfully demand of them; then they should make (and confidently defend) the right decision.

This article is an expansion of previous commentary.

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