Joy In Serving: Devotions From Time Of Grace MinistryНамуна

Four: My Country

The Old Testament historical and prophetic books have a lot to say about the relationship between the Israelites and their country. It’s a little tricky for American Christians to navigate which of those things apply to us today.

Here is what America is not: we are not the new Israel. Believers in Christ are the fulfillment of the prophecies of Israel’s restoration. We are not God’s chosen people. God certainly loves America, but he has richly blessed many other countries too. We are not a theocracy where our laws come straight from the Bible and direct guidance for governmental decisions comes straight from God.

Here is what America is: a place richly blessed by God; a place that enjoys many spiritual freedoms, including the right to believe and practice our faith and to share it freely; a place richly blessed with the financial resources to spread the Word beyond its borders through missionaries and mass media; and your place to find joy in serving.

My Country: ’Tis God’s gift

During the 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama’s connections with his longtime pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, caused him some severe personal and political discomfort. Wright’s church in Chicago was intensely Afrocentric, and Wright himself had such contempt for America’s racist past (and, he would say, present) that he used language from his pulpit calling on God to damn, not bless, America.

Rev. Wright is not alone. Some find it tempting to mock and deride our country because of its faults and failings. Sociologists say that the current generation of young adults has no confidence in any institution of any kind, including the national government.

St. Paul lived and worked in an empire with far fewer civil rights than ours. The Roman Empire officially sanctioned the murder of his Savior Jesus. And still he wrote, “There is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God” (Romans 13:1). That would seem to include China, Zimbabwe, and Cuba.

With all their flaws and shortcomings, national governments prevent things that God thinks are far worse: chaos and anarchy. God bless America.