God OR Country?

Does being a Christian mean you have to be a patriot? And really, just what is a patriot, anyway? Dictionary.com has it this way:
–noun
1. a person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and its interests with devotion.
2. a person who regards himself or herself as a defender, esp. of individual rights, against presumed interference by the federal government.
3. ( initial capital letter ) Military . a U.S. Army antiaircraft missile with a range of 37 mi. (60 km) and a 200-lb. (90 kg) warhead, launched from a tracked vehicle with radar and computer guidance and fire control.

As cool as the missile definition sounds, I'm really sticking with the first one for the purposes of this entry.

Election Season ended here in America on Tuesday. Well, actually one ended and another began, but that's irrelevant. It ended with a lot of people who say they love God and Country thanking supporters and promising to work hard for the good of the people. This sounds really good, and we Christians seem to eat up all the God talk from our favorite candidate, but something is bothering me.

I worry that we have become stronger patriots for the US than we have for God.

"Christian" Nation?
Much talk has been bandied about for the last few years about the Christian-ness of our nation. I believe the foundations of our nation were based on the freedom of a people to seek God as they see fit, and I also believe that many of the people who fought to make that way of life possible a couple hundred years ago were Christians. Most. Not all.

I believe that the vast majority of Americans call themselves Christian. Just because I call myself an Aggie does not mean I'm on the team that plays on Saturday. So, I believe that while between 80 and 90 % of us say we are Christians, the way we live our lives does not validate that.

There is no doubt that the Judeo-Christian worldview has a huge role in the laws we follow. Many of the Ten Commandments are represented in some form or another in our legal system today- but that does not make us a Christian nation.

Our founders set out to create a great nation, and I believe they succeeded. But over the 234 years since then, we have seemed to adopt this attitude that we are God's Chosen People. Like Israel. Honestly, I think its this view that makes us think we're a Christian nation. We have come to believe we are entitled to God's favor, but not His Lordship (aka His guidance and direction for living).

It's Happened Before
Israel started out great under Saul. Then Saul tanked it. David picked up the pieces, and despite numerous failings, built an awesome and God centered nation. But throughout its lifespan, Israel seemed to feel entitled to God's favor, but not His Lordship and definitely not His Discipline.

Just the other day, I randomly opened my Bible to Jeremiah 37. I read through chapter 39, which contains the fall of Jerusalem, and effectively the end of the nation of Judah (and ultimately Israel as a whole). It's too long to copy here, so go read it, its interesting. But I'll sum it up.

Zedekiah was made a puppet king by the king of Babylon while Jerusalem was under siege. He was not listening to God, so he sent for Jeremiah to pray for them. Jeremiah came back and said that God told him even though Egypt was marching to their aid, they would go home and the Babylonians would come back and destroy everything.

Then Jeremiah was thrown in prison because he was viewed as a deserter for going to check on his land. He again told the king that Babylon would take the king prisoner, and asked why he was imprisoned while the prophets who had told him that things would never get this bad for the Great Nation were free. (By Hebrew law, false prophets were to be stoned- by rocks.) Jeremiah gets to then live in the guards' courtyard and eat bread. Awesome. There, he prophesies that those who desert to Babylon will live, but those who stay will die.

They throw him in an empty, muddy well, where he sinks. But the king has him pulled out and asks him again for guidance. Jeremiah again says, "Give yourself up to Babylon or you will see Jerusalem burn, and you and your family may not live." The king seems to listen, at least to ponder this, but then in chapter 39, he is still doing things his way. The wall falls. The king runs. The Babylonians catch him, kill his sons and the nobles of Israel before his eyes. Then they take his eyes.

Jeremiah is freed by the Babylonians, but God's prophecy is declared that because the nation failed to heed His words, it would see disaster, not prosperity.

What Does That Have to do With the US?
The patriots- those prophets who though Israel and Judah to great to fall- were wrong. They had placed their faith in the nation, not the God. They had grown too proud to see that the king could not save them, nor could the nobles and the army save them. Jeremiah spoke something truly unpatriotic- give up and take the punishment you have earned. Let your proud city fall, but keep your life and the chance to seek forgiveness and restoration.

I am not anti-American, and I am certainly not claiming any prophecy that America will fall. But she can. We are a people that express the entitlement of being God's people without accepting His guidance. I'm not talking about the politicians here, I'm talking about we Christians. We demand moral uprightness of our leaders without demanding it of ourselves. We grow angry that our President doesn't attend church very often, but most Americans don't either. The ideal of America is deemed more worthy of fighting for than the reality of God. Oh, we'd never say that outright, but our actions dictate it. If we were as vociferous in our love for God as we are for expressing our desire to "return America to the right values," then I might give us credit. But it seems to me we expect America to still be prosperous and powerful because we are a "Christian Nation."

Yet we do not pledge allegiance to God, unless we need something. What if God told you, like He told Jeremiah, that you should leave behind your country, because it must fall for it's failures? Could you turn your back on your country?

Because, for Jeremiah and his contemporaries, to choose Country was to reject God.

I love my country and all that it provides for me. But I love my God more. And for all our talk of "Restoring America," it comes to nothing if we don't first "Restore our Relationship with God."

Each and every one of us.