God doesn’t bless America.
No, this isn’t the very kind of inflammatory, fear-fueled message that lots of pastors like to propagate. It’s not some doom and gloom, sky-is-falling, bullhorn warning that God is angry at America and is doing terrible things to her because of it. This is not a dire brimstone chastising about God abandoning us for our growing wickedness.
The truth is, God doesn’t bless America.
God doesn’t bless America for the same reason that God doesn’t curse America;
God doesn’t see America.
That doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love every person who happens to reside in this country; He does, immeasurably.
It simply means that He doesn’t lump us all into one great big Judgement Bin; good and bad, big tippers and bad tippers, flossers and non-flossers.
It means, He’s not comparing countries, seeing who has the most Christians per capita, and handing out kudos.
It also means God doesn’t see us as Americans, (or Italians or South Koreans or Indians), but as His.
God is not in a nation-builder. He is a soul-saver.
Take a look, once again, at perhaps the most well-known piece of Scripture, one familiar to even those who didn’t grow up in Sunday School, that speaks of the very heart of God:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Notice the above words in bold, because they reveal something powerfully beautiful about the desires of the One who made everything; the massive scope of the love of God, and the startling intimacy of it.
God’s love is world-sized, and it is person-delivered.
There is no talk of continent or nation or government, no mention of border or land or continent anymore. God’s plan is actually too big, and yet too small for that.
It turns out that God has been creating, blessing and redeeming people, long before America was ever a gleam in England’s eye. He had already delivered a way to save the world, and it wasn’t going to be through a place, but a person.
The phrase God Bless America (GBA), has saturated our Christian culture and poured into our churches and flooded our pulpits, and yet, does it really mean anything, beyond an easy high; a feel-good phrase to allow us some quick, religiousy comfort.
What are we really saying when we say GBA? How exactly would God really bless America?
Is He going to put a Starbucks gift card in each of our mailboxes one night?
Is He going to wave his finger, and immediately give us all our ideal weight, height, and hairline?
Is He going to regulate humidity across North America, so that 70 degrees actually feels like 70 degrees within our borders?
Sounds silly, but when we begin to ask that very basic question, we come to see that God probably wants all people to know Him, regardless of where they live.
I understand patriotism. I become teary-eyed when an elementary school girls sings our national anthem too… (Don’t judge me).
I get loving where you come from. America is home to me, and I’m eternally grateful of that, and thankful.
I understand how proximity breeds affinity. We all feel protective of those close to us; our neighbors and nation, and we should.
It’s when these ideas of nationalism and home and country, begin to seep into and even obscure our theology, that we begin to actually renovate God.
We replace His will, with our desires.
We make our country, God’s focus.
We act as if He, is working for us.
The phrase GBA, actually implies that God chooses favorites; as if He drives around with a bumper sticker on His car that reads: PROUD PARENT OF NORTH AMERICA.
A 30-second, oversimplified, but still-accurate Bible history:
– God uses a people, the Israelites, to be a model for the world; a way to reveal to them His character. He makes a covenant with Abraham to be the “father of many nations”. In this first covenant, God is reached through following rules; the laws.
– When the Israelites prove to be unable to represent Him, and to follow the rules to perfection, God send Jesus, and he makes a second covenant. This time, God is not reached through rules, but by faith in Jesus.
God creates a new people; one not marked by government or borders or geography, but by faith in Christ.
Colossians 3:11-12 states: 11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Paul, the writer, reminds the listener that all barriers, divisions; all designations, labels, borders and bloodlines are now meaningless.
God blessing the world: This is not just semantics; not merely a word choice revision we need to make. This is a life-altering truth that can change how we see everything.
When I begin to live bigger than GBA:
– God is right-sized: He becomes as massive and powerful as He really is; not an employee of my country, but the eternal, perfect Creator of the world.
– All people matter: A baby in the slums of Africa, becomes just as important as one in my own playroom. I will grieve, work and sacrifice for both equally.
– Mission gets clear: My goal will not be to get everyone to live like me. I won’t look to franchise out my culture or lifestyle. My calling, will be to tell every person I meet of God’s love for them, personally.
Wherever this post finds you today, may you love where you live, but may you worship the One who gives that life.
