What If God Doesn’t Want To Make America
Great Again?
If I can’t make America great by living the way of Christ, then
I want no part in that greatness.
| Updated
BRENDAN MCDERMID / REUTERS
Recently, I received an email stating that if Christians don’t
support Donald Trump for president we can “kiss our country goodbye.” It said
something to the effect of, “Sure he isn’t all that decent, but if that’s what
it takes for our economy to be strong, our borders to be secure, and our nation
to be great, then so be it.” It suggested God sent us Trump to preserve our
capitalism, our patriotism, and general way of life; that perhaps Trump is
God’s tool to save our country.
I’m not going to comment on whether any of that is accurate or
not, but the email did get me thinking...
What if God doesn’t want to Make America Great Again? Or maybe, what if God’s
definition of great looks a lot different than what many of us are hoping for?
What if saving our country (whatever is meant by that) is not really what God
has in mind?
I’m not saying that God wants to see America destroyed, but I’m
wondering if we make some false assumptions when we think God wants us rich and
safe or whatever other things people mean when they say they want America to be
great again.
Set aside the fact that many of us will disagree on what
actually makes our country great and consider why we think God wants us
wealthy, secure and politically free. Jesus was none of the above. Nor were his
first disciples or the early church or many Christians around the world today.
None of those things are promised to us. None of those things are necessary to
live a faithful life.
Have we become so attached to our stuff that we are certain God
wants us to keep it? Have we become so accustomed to having a vote that we
assume that’s how God orders the world? Are we so desperate for security that we
are willing to compromise our most basic values to acheive it? And so opposed
to our enemies that we are confident God hates them as much as we do?
If so, we are misguided. These things do not line up with the
Gospels where I learn of a Jesus who says to welcome the stranger, forgive extravagantly, give radically, and do not resist an evil person (and love them instead).
A Jesus whoerases
cultural and political and religious divisions.
Jesus who flat out says, “Whoever wants to be great needs to become a servant of everybody
else.”
But we have little time for that sort of greatness. “Be A
Servant” isn’t an attractive campaign slogan. Not when we have elections to win
and businesses to boycott and borders to secure. Jesus says his Kingdom is not
of this world, but we would say our kingdom certainly is and, well, all
that loving and forgiving stuff works in church, but this here is the real
world.
And so we declare our allegiance. We choose earthly greatness
and power and success and security over the way of the cross. We justify our
lack of loving our neighbors because we have to protect our version of the
American dream. We cling to political liberty at all costs and find
ourselves chained to platforms and politicians.
I’m not anti-American. I’m not an anarchist. I plan to vote in
the coming election. I’m just not going to assume that God’s deepest desire for
us is something as fleeting as prosperity or political freedom. I’m not
convinced God is hoping we elect the proper candidate so he can finally get to
work in our country.
While I strongly believe in “life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness” and want those things for all people (literally, all the people), I
am not dependant on them. Nor do I think those are the highest things a person
can acheive.
Not when our Savior started life as a refugee, lived under the
military occupation of his enemies, spent his ministry years homeless, and was
persecuted to the point of execution.
Not when the majority of our Scriptures were written to or about
people with no freedom, no security, and no wealth. Peope who often neglected
their faith whenever they had actually attained those very things.
And not when many of us are willing to ignore the teachings of
Christ in order to make a nation great. If I can’t make America great by living
the way of Christ, then I want no part in that greatness. And I don’t think God
does either.
If we live and love like Jesus of Nazareth at the expense of
privilege or safety, I believe America (and the rest of the world) will be
greater because of it. Not because we have accumulated all the power and all
the wealth, but because we have been faithful. Because being faithful to the
way of Jesus is the only way to be truly great.
So inform yourself and vote if you feel so led. But long before
and long after your ballot is cast, consider what things you are grasping for,
what things motivate and excite you, and what things you assume God wants for
you. And then compare them to the life of Jesus.
I imagine we will find we have spent a lot of time and money and
energy and yard signs on a greatness that is at best temporary and at worst
idolatry. We’ve been invited to something better than anything a politician can
offer and we’ve been charged to live in such a way that it doesn’t ultimately
matter where we reside or what we possess.
May
we be faithful first. Even when the alternative sounds safer and more
comfortable. May we choose Jesus and his cross today and every day. Even when
it costs us elections and political position. And may we see the world become
as great as its ever been
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