“I don’t want to, I don’t have to, and you can’t make me.” This sounds like a child refusing to eat their broccoli, but unfortunately it also sounds like much of the adult world today. Everybody wants to defend their rights. Nobody wants to be told what they have to do and nobody wants to surrender their freedom for any reason. The world debates what it wants to do and not what it ought to do. The world has little concern to what is right. The essence of unrighteousness is selfishness and broken relationships.

However Christians are not primarily citizens of the earth. We have been adopted into God’s heavenly kingdom and that kingdom should have our primary loyalty. When Christians are more concerned about their earthly rights than they are about their heavenly responsibilities it is troubling. The primary focus of Christians should never be political. I’m not saying that Christian should be politically ignorant or politically inactive. We live in a world where politics is a major force in determining the direction society takes. Political decisions can shape the course of culture towards or away from righteous behavior. When government endorses wickedness and unrighteous actions all society suffers. However a Christian’s major ability to affect change in our world is spiritual not political.

John said that Jesus had to go through Samaria. I do not believe this was a slip of the tongue. We know that he did not literally have to go through Samaria to get to Galilee. He could’ve went the long way around and going through Samaria was only three days quicker. He had to go through Samaria, but not because of physical or earthly limitations. Jesus had to go through Samaria for righteousness sake. Jesus had a divine appointment with a Samaritan woman, and righteousness required him to keep that appointment. Jesus was constrained by the power of love. A Christian’s actions are not controlled by earthly powers; their actions are controlled by what they know is right.