the kingdom of america or the kingdom of god?...

i find many people thinking these days on what is the best thing for america to do with the situation were in... by situation, i mean iraq, other foreign relations, foreign debt, security for our country, the economy, the assurance of a good future, etc...

here is what strikes me about jesus of nazareth's understanding of his reality: he makes the comment that he doesnt even hold his own blood family above his family of world-changing, cheek-giving, first-is-last followers... he gives no commendment to helping rome or even helping the nation of israel... interesting... seems this homeless man who had no place to rest his head held no allegiance... except to do what he saw the father doing...

[stop it ryan, you are oversimplifying matters... besides, you dont own a home or have kids... you are not paying higher income taxes like some of the rest of us... you dont have as much at stake in this place where you live... perhaps... they do say that idealism is the luxury of elite non-working trust-fund babies...]

anyways, as a person who is looking to be identified (some would say 'solely identified') as a follower of jesus, then i must make decisions that way, not through a strainer of american idealogy... but of world/humanity/creation idealogy... with special interest into only what jesus had special interest in, ie. the poor among us (not the spiritually poor who are driving their bmw's, but the really poor), those marginalized, especially by religion, and so on and so forth...

my point?... i think its simply that we vote this fall (and any time for that matter) and make some decisions that will affect the world, not just the united states... will we vote for the convenience and security of america or by the conviction of the heart of jesus, that we would love our neighbors...

am i oversimplifying?... perhaps... i just think we need to sometimes define the difference between the kingdom of god and the kingdom of america... thoughts?...