I grew up in a former Soviet country with a corrupt government. I have a vivid memory as a kid of watching a local man slip a bribe to an officer while at an airport. The officer took it and shook the man’s hand, nonchalant. Life there wasn’t easy. Everyday laws changed as often as the CDC has changed its regulations regarding COVID these past few months. We lived with uncertainty, and we spent many hours in prayer asking God for favor in the eyes of the government, for visas to be granted, for justice for our imprisoned friends, for mercy for suffering churches. Because of this upbringing, I moved to the United States with a different view of government, and in particular, the church’s relationship with government, than most Americans might have.
In my two years in the U.S., I have been privileged to meet all kinds of Christian Americans whom I disagree with wholeheartedly, who dance along the political spectrum. In them, no matter where they stand, I have often found a deep-seated belief that America is “God’s Country.” This ethnocentric dream permeates all of American society, even among atheists who deny God’s existence. America with its institutions, democratic values, sexual ethics, and popular culture often gets held up as ideal, sovereign, and the hope of the nations.
I am not a political man. Since I didn’t grow up here, I know very little about American politics, so if I offend anyone in what I say, don’t come up to me wanting to debate politics, because you will certainly win. But, while I don’t know much about U.S. politics, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the reality of “God’s Country” and about what it means to follow Christ.
And I know that this is not God’s country. This country that kills its children before they even have the chance to speak. This country that elects immoral and corrupt leaders to represent the people who in turn oppress and exploit them. This country that claims to have the right to pronounce what marriage is but is ignorant about what marriage is for. This country that blames structures for sin but then overlooks sin for the sake of its structures. This country that turns its back on the oppressed, that denies entrance to the immigrant, that tears families apart, that uses Christ for votes, manipulates truth, destroys His world, and hates His people. No, this is not God’s country. This is not my country. I do not say this because I grew up overseas. I say this because I am a disciple of Jesus. My country is a greater one. It is a kingdom that was, that is, and that is still to come. It is a place not bound by worldly treasures, power and ideas. My country is a heavenly Kingdom where Christ is King.
Jesus died at the hands of those who thought he had come to build a worldly kingdom. I beg you, do not participate in killing Christ over what he has abstained from building on earth. His work transcends our world, our circumstances, our structures. His work has given to us a kingdom that lives beyond us. If what you deem to be the worst comes, and America falls for whatever reason, God has not failed his people. His kingdom surpasses what our forefathers built, what we have planned for, what we have seen. It is a kingdom still to come but also with us now, moving through us, in us. It is a spiritual kingdom that comes and shows up in our lives through our love for one another — and even for our enemies.
Indeed, Christ’s Kingdom is a kingdom founded on love for all but especially “the least of these.” For the orphans, the widows, the immigrants, the destitute, the brokenhearted, the blind and deaf, the lame, the enemies of God, the dead. It is for us, the neglected of the world, that Jesus has come. No political party can bring God’s salvation to men, no president can heal us of our sins, no institution can deliver us from the end. Only Christ can. And He did, for us, if we choose to put our hope in Him.
America is not God’s country and America is not God. And while America fears the worst in death, we as Christians find our hope there. For Christ has overcome even this foul thing. So do not be afraid of any end coming. Instead, rejoice! As followers of Jesus, in what the world sees as the end, we find a new beginning.
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea…” — Psalm 46:1-2
