Can you imagine what it must be like for aliens on Independence Day? (Aliens as in foreigners living in this country, not E.T. & Company)
I remember special days in Argentina. I was happy for those who celebrated around me, and I enjoyed the special foods that always accompanied those celebrations. There were school pageants to attend, and my kids took their place along with their other Argentine friends. I tried to learn about the celebrations and tried to enjoy them, even if they weren’t mine.
Civic holidays tend to be a bit more “in your face” in the United States. They especially find a place in churches in a way that I don’t see in other countries. It’s hard to go anywhere without seeing red, white and blue.
So can you imagine how it feels for a foreigner? Can you imagine participating in the celebrations only to a point, recognizing that, while you benefit from the existence of this country, you’re not fully a part of it?
I’m hoping that you can imagine it quite well. For we are the foreigners, the strangers, the aliens…
“Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (1 Peter 2:11–12)
“Hear my prayer, O LORD, listen to my cry for help; be not deaf to my weeping. For I dwell with you as an alien, a stranger, as all my fathers were.” (Psalms 39:12)
“I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me.” (Psalms 119:19)
“We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.” (1 Chronicles 29:15)
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11:13–16)
“Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven.” (Philippians 3:19–20)
Well said, brother!
I don’t think Christians today understand just the implications of God’s people living as sojourners in this world among the nations (how that OT theology carries over into Christian ecclesiology). Of course, by the time of second-temple Judaism, Israel had lost sight of this identity. So it should not be surprising that Christians today lose sight of it too.
I don’t think Christians today understand their civic responsibility.
“When the righteous rule, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.”
Proverbs 29:2 …
A Restoration preacher and president of the United States once said, “Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature….If the next centennial does not find us a great nation…it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces. James A. Garfield (1831-1881)
“Righteousness exalts a nation.” Proverbs 14:34
“Blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord.” Psalm 33:12
If Christians had voted for Bible values in government, they could have prevented the murder of millions of innocent babies and stopped the passing of laws promoting and aiding sodomy.
Wesley,
I’m curious if you think those same “Bible values” that you mention would also have prevented dropping two atomic bombs on Japan, including Japanese children, and a few other atrocities that are a casualty of war?
Wesley,
That “civic responsibility” is not to be found in the Bible, but in the teachings of the world.
That’s the nation that will be exalted by righteousness, the nation whose God is the Lord.
Not one of the kingdoms of this world.
A Restoration preacher wrote:
You can read more here: http://www.timothyarcher.com/kitchen/david-lipscomb-on-voting/
Grace and peace,
Tim
If we don’t try to shape the environment in which we live and our children will be raised, we have no cause to complain about what we receive.
Well said Laymond. When we go along and try to be as political as everyone else, join the military like everyone else, and basically act just like the non-Christians around us, then we can’t complain about what we receive.