Paul Carrington explains in this video that it is absolutely critical for us to understand that our first and primary allegiance ought to be to the Lord Jesus Christ. If I love my wife or if I love my children with all my might outside of God, I'm not going to really love them at the same level as when I have the Lord as my primary allegiance.

Mark 12:30 (NKJV) - "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength."

There's another account in the Gospels where the Lord is preaching and someone comes to him and says, your mother and your brothers are outside and they need to speak with you right away. And the Lord looks around at those that are seated before Him. And He makes this statement, He says, who is my mother and who are my brothers, but those that hear the word of God and keep it. And so, He's talking about a higher allegiance that is demanded in order to be a disciple of Christ. And so this is absolutely critical for us to understand is that our first and primary obligation, our first and primary allegiance ought to be to the Lord Jesus Christ.

But here's what happens when we have the Lord Jesus as our primary allegiance. We have an increased and higher capacity to love than we did before. In other words, if I love my wife or if I love my children with all my might outside of God, I'm not going to really love them at the same level as when I have the Lord as my primary allegiance because I'm tapping into a higher and greater and deeper fountain than the resources of my own heart. And so the capacity to love increases when we have God, when we have the Lord Jesus as our first and primary allegiance. You