Last night I watched The Viceroy’s House – a film that came out last year (the 70th anniversary of 

Indian independence). It presents a picture of Earl Mountbatten as the last Viceroy of India leading up to independence and 

partition caught in the crossfire of vested interest. On the one hand was the British Government seeking to secure access to 

Middles Eastern oil; on another side was Jinnah, determined to set up an independent Muslim state (Pakistan); then there was Nehru who wanted India to stay together under the Congress Party (largely Hindu); finally there was Ghandi who was only really 

interested in an independent India. Mountbatten is depicted trying to manage all of these interests whilst, at the same time, 

being stitched up by all parties. The result was the biggest mass migration in known history (14 million people displaced from their homes and over 1 million killed as a result of the fighting between Muslims and Hindus that proceeded from the tearing up of the country). 

Vested interest often doesn’t see the bigger picture. The pursuit of our own personal goals at the expense of all else will always produce unwanted consequences. In the kingdom of God, there is no room for vested interest – it will only produce division. This kingdom is one in which our interests are subsumed in the pursuit of God’s; where our will aligns with his will and where we set our objectives on a higher calling – to see his kingdom come and his will done on earth as it is in heaven. That comes about through unity of purpose and commitment to His cause. It involves denial of our own self-will. It involves seeing the bigger picture – that we are part of an everlasting movement that will result in seeing Jesus crowned as king of a united universe under his headship (Ephesians 1:10). Let us set our hearts on his purposes and not just our own.