“These are the times that try men’s souls.”
— Thomas Paine
Nearly two-hundred and fifty years ago, a people separated themselves from their king in order to do what they believed was right in the eyes of the King of Kings. Four score and seven years later, their sixteenth president extolled the virtues of that heritage and the need to defend it in a war that consecrated that people as one. That war was the bloodiest in that people’s history. In the time since, there has been no shortage of hardship as well as triumph. That people would weather the Great Depression, liberate Europe from Nazism, and put men on the moon. The United States has been through worse times than she’s in now, no doubt, but she’s certainly been through better. And yet, those hard times seem to have been more formative for the noble aspects of America than have periods of ease. Times seem good, and that’s perhaps not good.
We enjoy prosperity that is unprecedented in the history of the world, and yet, what shall it profit a nation to gain the whole world but lose her soul? As soon as we take for granted the provident blessings of God on our nation, we can expect to lose them. He giveth and He taketh away. If the pandemic of 2019, subsequent supply chain antics and present economic downturn show anything, it’s that this global prosperity we partake in as a country is unbelievably delicate. In terms purely of the material, we enjoy something like a fragile utopia. The quality of America’s character is perhaps as delicate, yet in a worse state of fracture so far, and of far greater importance.
This Independence Day is observed in an election year so contentious that the very essence of the nation seems to be up to debate. Disagreements over the Bill of Rights, which we might call the very constitution of the Constitution, reveal the depth of disunity among the people. With regard to the moral decay and growing ideological rift between Americans, we seem to be reaching the limits of what democratic principles can do for us. If America is indeed a creed rather than a people as G. K. Chesterton aptly suggested, then that creed is suffering immensely under lack of agreement on fundamentals of truth and justice. The dangerous thing about systems and institutions is the way they garner our faith by tricking us into thinking they are more than human. Systems are good because they can mitigate the weaknesses of humanity, but they are inescapably human, and thus invariably flawed. Some in our day go so far as to ominously proclaim the imminent death of democracy. While there is certainly a ‘cry wolf’ element to such predictions, they should never be dismissed without consideration.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we should simply toss out the wonderful republic we’ve inherited. Matter of fact, I’ve sworn allegiance to that republic since I was a child, and I’d wager you remember doing so as well if you are celebrating this day. But we must remember the order of operations. Allegiance to country is predicated on fealty to God. Why should we be more concerned about government of the people, by the people and for the people perishing from the earth than about Christian faith perishing from America? The same faith, no less, that created that form of government in the first place? Our woes as a people run far deeper than the material or the political. If we do indeed lose our prosperity or our system of government, it will be because we forgot our first Love.
Perhaps we are too afraid of suffering and not afraid enough of capitulating. Perhaps we are too concerned with avoiding hard times rather than rising to meet them with courage and honor. Perhaps we have valued peace in our nation over peace in our souls — and peace with the adversary over peace with God. Perhaps we should pray less for prosperity and more for strength, holiness, nearness to our Father. I fear that, in the cradle of comfort, we may largely become a people whose souls are woefully untried. September 11th, 2001 shook America so deeply in part because her soil has remained unstained by warfare since the 19th century. We are a people who largely know mortal hardship as a far off acquaintance rather than a close neighbor. The average American is separated from war by an ocean, the most powerful military in history, and often a number of proxies who fight our political battles for us.
I have become much more thankful lately for the blessings we collectively enjoy as God has given me grace to see them. And, simultaneously, I feel led to hold them with an increasingly open hand. Everything in this world is God’s, even our very lives. The things that are good in our lives are good precisely because they come from Him.
One of the devil’s dirtiest tricks is offering us good things by evil means. Consider the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden. Knowledge is a good thing, as the writings of Solomon constantly explain. And yet, when gotten by means of disobedience to God, when separated from the Origin of all goodness, that good thing becomes a curse. This is a part of the fundamental nature of evil. It offers us genuine goods up front, only for us to find they have been gutted of all their goodness.
The liberty we have in America is a good thing at the bottom of it. The slaves on American plantations and in colonial homes gravitated toward the narrative of Exodus because it is a story about the God who sets His people free, and “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Freedom is indeed a gift of God. But when freedom is used as a license to sin, it is no longer salvation, but death. It is gutted of all that is good about it. I think that there is much good in the American system and philosophy of government, but if we continue to exploit that system for the sake of immorality, it will cease to benefit us and will instead become an albatross around our necks. If a monarchy is only as good as its king, then a democracy is only as good as its people. If our representatives stand in for more than just the policies we favor but also for the values we hold, then we the people have in many instances over the last several decades chosen to elect the pride of life and the lust of the eyes.
Perhaps this all sounds rather dour so far, so let me assure you that I am indeed hopeful. I simply wish to explain why my hope isn’t just in a politician or system or institution. We can fight for traditions, we should fight for godly values in government, and so on, but none of these things matter if they are the objects of our faith. If they become idols, they are gutted of goodness. No politician or system or institution will save our country from proverbially going to Hell, handbasket notwithstanding, any more than they will save our individual souls. Christ alone is the hope of His people, the hope of men, women, and children, the hope of whole nations, the hope of the world. We mustn’t give our love and worship to liberty, but rather to the God who liberates. Liberty will follow.
It’s not that I don’t care whether or not we lose our freedom or our form of government, or that I feel totally cold to the potential suffering people face in a worst case scenario of the near future, it’s simply that I am more wary about feeling cold toward the judgment we may drink upon ourselves if, when persecutions come (and I do mean when), the Church in America should be found lacking in faith. May the Lord help our unbelief! Too many Christians, it seems, are more eager to defend their political liberty than to give a defense for the hope they have in Christ. If that description applies to you, as I also struggle to keep it from applying to me, then take heart that we are free in Christ regardless of whether or not we are free in America. I’ve felt this hypothetical vividly impressed upon my heart lately, and I invite you to ask with me: Am I more afraid of being persecuted or of being unfaithful? Am I more afraid of burning at the stake or of denying my Lord in the midst of the flames? Am I more afraid of hanging with Christ than I am of washing my hands with Pilate and calling down curses with Peter? It seems a grim thought at first, but faith should make it a hopeful one.
I love America, truly. I’m a patriot, through and through. I’ll be enjoying the smell of sparklers and hot dogs, the star-spangled bunting, the flags and the fireworks as much as anyone today. But I feel convicted to be a patriot only insofar as I am a child of God. I feel that, like Abraham offering up Isaac, we must offer up our country on the altar to God. What we give up to Him cannot possibly be better than what He gives back. Republican government is not a bad thing anymore than Isaac’s existence was a bad thing, but such gifts are only gifts when God gives them. We must trust all that we stand to lose to God. Only then can we truly stand to gain.
Hard times may be ahead, dear brothers and sisters in Christ. We live in an era of untold debauchery, hate and despair. It’s a tragically obvious statement that much of our country has been straying from God for some time. The sacred nature of marriage and family is desecrated at every turn, the lives of precious infants are counted as worthless, division and conflict wrack our society, and ever-novel drugs present an ongoing crisis of addiction and suffering. An hour of godlessness is upon us. We cannot trust our institutions or politicians to defend the faith. And yet, though the times change, our Lord does not, and He gives us not a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control. Democracy may die someday soon, or it may go on for another millennium, but the sad truth is that America will not last forever. The beautiful truth is that God’s Kingdom will. No flag flies forever except the banner of His love. No crown goes untarnished except the one made of thorns.
So as long as America’s flag flies, let us celebrate her with joy and thankfulness for the ultimate Good. Let us not only celebrate her, but treat her with godliness. Let us value our country for what is godly in her and selflessly work to excise what is not. Let’s store up treasure in Heaven rather than on earth by giving up perishable crowns for the imperishable, by taking up crosses of our own, by orienting everything we value towards God’s glory rather than our own comfort. We’ve been given an immeasurable gift of life and liberty in Christ, let us not squander it in selfishness and pride. I pray that God would bless America, not with what we want, but with what we need. I pray that whatever stands in the way of our holiness He would remove. May God bless America for His glory.
Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. — Isaiah 1:10-18 (KJV)
Being Kindled 
Leave a comment