Loyalty

From: Every Day Light - Selwyn Hughes 

Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides."

A university professor, writing on the subject of loyalty, says an interesting thing: "There is only one way to be an ethical individual and that is to choose your cause and then to serve it. This central loyalty to a cause puts other loyalties in their place as subordinate. Then life as a whole is coordinated because all lesser loyalties are subordinated."

Translate his thinking into New Testament language and you find an interesting similarity. The "cause" we choose is Christ and His Kingdom, and when we seek them first, then all other things, including self-control, are added to us. 

This does not mean, of course, that once we become Christians we automatically become people of supreme self-control. We have the potential for that, but it becomes a reality only as we continually surrender and submit to Christ's control.