Philippians 3:20 GNT
We, however, are citizens of heaven, and we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven.
If you can remember it, right after 9-11 happened, the country was unified in a way I had never seen! So, it breaks my heart that today it seems we are less United and more just States of America. State of anger, state of controversy, state of confusion, state of offense, state of ambiguity, and state of derisiveness. President Abraham Lincoln undoubtedly served as our President in the most divisive phase of American history. He stated, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” He tirelessly fought to reunite the country during a brutal Civil War and we did. Do you think we can reunite again today?
I know many Americans have forgotten, if they ever actually knew, that the United States was founded on Biblical Christian principles. Eric Metaxas writes in his book, If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty, “Since the Pilgrims came to our shores in 1620, religious freedom and religious tolerance have been the single most important principle of American life.” Long before the Declaration of Independence was even drafted, George Whitefield was preaching to most of Colonial America, birthing the Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s. Whitefield would preach every day to huge crowds. In just one day, he preached to a crowd of an estimated 80,000! That was 8% of the entire population of the Colonies in one single day. It’s impossible to conceive that the Great Awakening didn’t greatly impact the creation of our Nation. Eric Metaxas also states, “After his [George Whitefield] own experience in Oxford, he knew that the Christian faith was not about how one behaved but about what one believed, and if one truly believed one could do nothing to achieve salvation but believe in Jesus, one’s behavior would follow.”
Our Christian foundation didn’t escape French political scientist and author, Alexis de Tocqueville. “’Upon my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things. In France, I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America, I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country.’ Tocqueville also said that there was ‘no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America.’” (If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty)
Jesus teaches us that our true identity is as a citizen of heaven. Heaven that has no borders, no time zones, no military zones, and the only passport required is the belief that Jesus is your Lord and Savior. President Harry S. Truman said it so well, “You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break.” We have become so distracted by the “things” that we think divide us, that we have forgotten what is important and the only One that can truly unite us. The “break” that President Truman spoke of is knowing Jesus. Again, Eric Metaxas summed it up so well in his book, “when I was helping my daughter memorize Paul Revere’s Ride, I was teaching her to love sacrifice and goodness and truth and beauty, and I was teaching her the history of America and therefore teaching her to love America.” If we have forgotten that to love America is to love Jesus, then we need to be reminded! If you have forgotten that true unity is found in our Heavenly citizenship, then you need to be reminded! If you never learned the Truth, you are free to learn it today!
