By Pastor Stephen Hess –
As I write this article, we are just a few days away from an important American holiday—the Fourth of July. One of the songs that you often hear on the Fourth of July is “God Bless America”, which begins with the words, “God bless America, land that I love.” I was recently reflecting on those words and found myself asking: How should we as Christians think about loving our country in a way that honors God?
On the one hand, we should affirm that there is nothing inherently wrong with loving our country. Just as we might have a special affection for the city or state in which we live, it is natural to have a special affection for the country in which we live. And indeed, there is much to love about America. We live in a country that contains beautiful landscapes, abundant resources, and numerous freedoms that should not be taken for granted.
At the same time, the love we have for our country must always be shaped by God’s word. Love for a good thing can become sinful if it takes control of our hearts and begins to skew our priorities. For example, love for our children is a good thing, but if we begin to love our children more than we love God and his commands, this love has become disordered and sinful. In the same way, love for our country is a good thing, but if we begin to have more affection for America than we do for the Kingdom of God, we have moved from loving our country to idolizing it.
When the Israelites were in Babylon the prophet Jeremiah said, “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer. 29:7). We too should care about our country, pray for our country, and seek the welfare of our country. All these things are part of what it means to love America. But at the same time, we must be careful that this love does not cause us to lose sight of several important Biblical realities. Below are three realities that I think are particularly important.
First, we must be careful that our love for our country does not cause us to lose sight of reality. The Bible says that all the kingdoms of this world are fallen and temporary. America is no different. Our country’s history contains many great accomplishments and many great sins. Rather than seeking to whitewash our country’s sins, Christians should be the most aware and honest about these sins because we are the people who know the Bible, and the Bible tells us that the history of all the kingdoms of this world is a history of sin and rebellion against God. Furthermore, the Bible tells us that all the kingdoms of this world are passing away and will one day be destroyed (1 Cor. 15:24). Therefore, our hope must not be in the future of America, but in Christ’s eternal kingdom which will last forever.
Second, we must be careful that our love for our country does not cause us to lose sight of our identity. According to Scripture, Christians are first and foremost citizens of Christ’s kingdom, which means we are exiles in this world (Heb. 11:13). To put it another way, we live in America as “resident aliens.” America is the land of our residence, but we are aliens and exiles here because our true citizenship is in another land—the kingdom of heaven (Phil. 3:20). We must never forget this aspect of our identity. Our identity in Christ must supersede our national identity, which means we have more in common with Christians in other nations than we do with non-Christians in our own land. If we allow our American identity to become our primary identity then we have fallen prey to nationalism, which is absolutely antithetical to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Third, we must be careful that our love for our country does not cause us to lose sight of the great commission. Before Jesus ascended into heaven he told his disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19). Christ’s kingdom is a global kingdom that will include people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. This means that the church’s mission is not national but international. Noted pastor and missions expert David Platt recently said, “It is time to stop caring more about the good of our country than we care about getting the gospel to other countries.” I couldn’t agree more. If Christians care more about American politics than the great commission of Jesus, then we have lost sight of our mission and need to repent.
Let’s not stop loving our country, but let’s make sure that our love is shaped by Scripture. We love our country best when we remember that it is a fallen land full of fallen people who desperately need to know that God loved them so much that he sent his Son to die for them. We love our country best when we remember that we are ambassadors for Christ, called to represent his kingdom in a foreign land. And we love our country best when we remember that America’s greatest need is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the church’s job is to take that gospel not only to America, but to the ends of the earth.