The Hope for America

Anyone else tired of all the nitpicking, backbiting, infighting, slandering ineptitude of our political leadership? What about the incessant, bigoted, uneducated, hateful ramblings from regular people on both sides of the spectrum that invade our social media feeds? Anyone tired of that as well?

There are some major problems in our nation right now, that's obvious. This bickering is a major part of it. I can say this as someone who isn't an outsider, but as someone whose been a major part of the problem as well. I used to love political rants. I would go on them almost daily on my Facebook page or to anyone nearby within earshot; to willing and unwilling listeners. I did this because I really loved my country, but I also fully believed I knew how to fix it and was willing to blame those who didn't (which always seemed to be the people in charge). I believed in this so much I pursued it in college as a Political Science major. I had full confidence in this ability of mine, of my own understanding, and as a result I had a lot of people who admired me, as well as a long list of those who couldn't stand me. I can write this because I have been in the muck.

So what was wrong with that? What's wrong with having strong beliefs and taking a stand? Nothing. Nothing, as long as it's done in love. Everything if it isn't.

This is about the time that most people who don't believe in God or spiritual realities are probably going to check out. That's fine. You're on your own journey and if you don't want glimpses of mine there's no hard feelings. But it's time to step back from liberalism and conservatism and see the truth of what's going on.

There is an enemy in this world that has been destroying nations since the inception of nations. It is dastardly, fiendish, subtle and brilliant. It has influenced the most foolish people in the world and the most brilliant. It has consumed the most strident atheist and overtaken the minds of many Christians. It is the Political Spirit, and its power is in convincing man that he has all the answers and that he must get power to institute them.

This spirit cleverness is in convincing man that his idea is the only way. It is in getting man (or woman) to believe that they are wise. The Political Spirit puffs man up to the point that every other opinion or idea must be crushed and seen as the enemy. It thrives in creating an "us against them" mentality. It works to focus man on problems rather than solutions. It breeds hate and dissension. In short, it is ingenious at getting man to focus on everything else but where all the answers really lie, in God.

The last few years have seen our country influenced more by this spirit than ever before. We are catering to its whims. We have let it infect our thoughts, our emotions, our faith. Those of us that are Christians carry the most blame, for we should know better. Instead we have let our pulpits become places where we ignite political fires. We have let our political affiliation become a stronger identity than our heavenly one. We have let too many of our own use Biblical truth as justification for hatred and judgment, pushing those we disagree with further away. We have denied the power of the Gospel to unify and change. We have allowed the political spirit to convince us that things are getting worse, that hope is dwindling. In doing so we have denied Christ by belittling Him to a masthead of either strict, legalistic conservatism or all-inclusive, Grace-fueled universal acceptance of sinful nature liberalism. In doing so we have forgotten that He is so much more than either and beholden to neither.

People aren't listening to us because they don't feel safe with us. They don't feel loved. This goes all the way up to our President, whom we as Christians have done a shameful job in honoring. We have become no better than those who despised President Bush. The Bible is pretty clear about how we should honor our authority. Christians then were still loving Nero even when he burned them on stakes to provide light for his nightly walks. What's our excuse to not love our own President?

Christians, it's time to wake up! It's time to refocus onto our First Love, onto our Lord, Savior, and Perfecter of our Faith. It's time to stop reading the Gospel through political lenses and instead let God speak to us. It's time to stop letting morality be an excuse for judgment. It's time to stop seeing those who disagree with us as enemies and instead embrace them. Love is the only way we can change the world. Love is the gift and power that Christ has given us. Love is patient, gentle and kind, our political bantering is none of those things.

As we shift our focus a wonderful thing will happen. Hope floods back in! Love overcomes! We discover quickly that God has not forsaken our nation, He has not judged it and left it behind. He is at work! Suddenly those who we disagree with become people to us again. We suddenly find that we have much more in common than we previously believed. As we look back to Christ He changes how we see others. Suddenly there are no more liberals and conservatives, there are just people. As we love them we find that fear goes away, and suddenly we can work together for answers. We once again all become Americans who are in it together.

It starts with us, it starts at the ground level. If we want to change Washington we need to stop screaming at them and instead start loving those around us. As we do so the waves of change will come. As we start to see value in everyone despite their differences we will find that reasonable solutions can be found. Will there be outliers who cannot be worked with? Absolutely. But why are we worried about them? Christ certainly wasn't. He just kept going and loving more. Why are we so quick to ignore the actions of the one who had the solutions? Why are we so quick to shut off His voice in our lives?

The hope for America is and always has been in Him. It's not in our Constitution, it's not in International Law, it's not in the next election or the next sweeping legislation. Those can all be wonderful things, but they are not our hope. As believers we have no excuse to forget this. We have no excuse to stop loving others or to treat them as if they are stupid. When we deny our faith by putting our politics first we not only are sinning but we are hurting the image of Christ to all those who do not know Him.

Yet Hope abounds for out nation! And we must recognize it in order to be encouraged. The Founding Fathers of our nation gave us a great gift, and I don't mean the Constitution. They gave us a start, a birth that no other nation in history has had. We were the first nation born free. We were the first nation which had the spirit of freedom inbred in us from the beginning. In God's infinite wisdom He knew this, and because of this we have the greatest advantage of winning our spiritual battles of any nation in history. The proof is everywhere even in darker times. The people, when encroached upon, consistently fight back on the side of freedom. No matter what our beliefs, we are ingrained to believe that "no man can control me." This is a God-given gift of being born an American. The spirit of freedom, true freedom, freedom to love, freedom to serve, freedom to pursue relationship, is the nature of Christ. It is a powerful force, and it always wins once it is experienced.

America is not lost. It is not beyond saving. God is good, and He loves our nation as He loves all nations. He also always finishes what He starts, and there is no denying that He started something wonderful in our nation. People of America, especially we who believe in God. it's time to let hope come back in. It's time to focus on and live as Christ empowers us. If we truly love our nation more than ourselves then answer the Call. The answer to saving our nation all lies in our willingness to pursue Him first above all in our individual and corporate lives. In doing so we will find ears deaf to our shouting become open to our whispers. That is how revival starts. That is how nations are changed.

All it takes is us saying "YES!" to Him. How easy is that?