Having come upon the 4th of July and wanting to celebrate in patriotic spirit, I found myself analyzing what patriotism is. I have generally grown up believing that patriotism is a belief held by a citizen toward his country that results in supportive action for said country. It is the belief that my country is good, grand, or even the best that should lead me to support it, defend it physically if necessary, defend the Constitution, etc. As a Chrisitan, I may even believe that my country has a special place in God's plan for the world.
Is American patriotism, by that definition or another's (for it will surely vary from citizen to citizen) the same as biblical patriotism, or even close?As always, to answer the first question, I must ask other questions.
What is biblical patriotism?
I have found that in answering this question for myself, I have challenged much of what I have believed and thought about my country. Simply, biblical patriotism is rightly viewing my country for what it is, being a good citizen to that country within the bounds of God's commands, and withholding my full allegiance from my earthly home in lieu of my future citizneship in the Kingdom of heaven. This definition should apply for any citizen of any country in any age. A biblical patriot shold not be different if he lives in Communist China, medieval Germany, or the United States of America. If you are like me, this may be hard to grasp. Hard for me, I have realized, because I have believed things that are not true about my country.
Is not my country special?
I have believed that my country, because in many ways it is the best nation this earth has hosted, is special in God's eyes. This is dangerously close to some bad theology that views our country as the last stage of a progressive society before the perfect millennial kingdom. Our country is but one of many that serves its purpose in God's soverign plan throughout the ages.
What is the purpose of my (or any) country?
According to Romans 13, it is authority. Punishing evil and even (according to 1 Peter 2:13 ), rewarding good. This authority does have limits, but those are determined by God and not an angry constituency. Again, this seems to challenge the sense of ownership I had believed I had in my representative government. Participation in democracy, allowed by this government, though, should never become a role of authority over the government designed by God to rule us.
How should we then live?
In submission (1 Peter 2:13, Titus 3:1). I would not have said anything different a year ago, but I would now explain it differently. Reiterating the point above, we should not, by participating in the government that allows participation, allow ourselves to think we have authority. This may be difficult, for many of the founding fathers believed this, it is inherent in the founding of a constitutional republic, it is present in whatever form of democracy we may find ourselves in, and it is the binding belief of political conservatives. But we do not deserve any participation; that is a privilege. With it, we should not expect to achieve a perfect government. We should not even think, "our country would be perfect if..." It never will be. We will live out our lives under imperfect authority, and this is God's plan for us.
Not wholehearted allegiance?
Like Abraham (Heb. 11:9-10) our eyes should be on the future, to "the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." THAT will be a perfect government.
This does not require that we discard our nationality, that we forsake obedience, or despise our government. Rather, our citizenship in whatever earthly land should be a scale model of our citizenship in heaven. It must be a good testimony, but it is not our dominant role. For me, this means that my concern over the politics of this country lessen as I concern myslef with news and duties of my other citizenship.
If we look beyond our current nationality, if we reserve our full alllegience, if we submit to imperfect authority instead of overthrowing it, if we view it as just authority, as just another country, is it possible to be patriotic at all?
Still, yes. This imperfect country is part of God’s sovereign plan for the world and for each of us. The imperfect authority is a tool by which God is molding us, and, despite imperfections, we have many blessings and privileges that many in other countries and ages never have (still in God’s sovereignty). These blessings and privileges have come at great cost to establish and maintain. Many men and women have served an often sacrificial role in the country God has allowed us to be born and grow up in. We must be thankful.
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