“In God We Trust” – our hotly debated and sometimes hated national motto has never been enough and yet it is plenty to incur scorn and disdain.
We have talked a lot about the dangers of atheism, and on this anniversary of 9/11 I was personally reminded of this danger right in the preamble of the Declaration of Independence itself:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
What happens when any significant portion of our society rejects creation in exchange for atheism? They by default reject the above as without a creator to endow us with them our “unalienable Rights” don’t exist at all. What comes next is a matter of foregone conclusion, without such Rights society becomes nothing more than a resource to be exploited or a system to be gamed. Do you doubt that a significant portion of our society has come to this point? Give this a look:
Four years later and our “kingdom divided against itself” is more evident than ever.
Today we had what was arguably an over-the-top “Patriot’s Day” celebration at church. It happened to be on Sunday. As the American Legion volunteers placed the colors on the left was the American flag, on the right, the Christian flag. As the flags were dropped into their holders the Christian flag came loose and slid to the ground. The MC didn’t notice, because his attention was fixed on the American flag. After several patriotic songs a segue offered the opportunity to fix the Christian flag, the AL volunteer duct taped it and got it back in place. I’m an ardent patriot, and after being brought to tears by recollections of that fateful day 15 years ago when we were all reminded that the world is full of people that would do anything to kill any American man, woman, or child, I started to think about the fallen Christian flag.
Even as an after-thought God has blessed this Country. We’ve been blessed with incredible power to defend ourselves and others. Even when the best we can muster is “In God We Trust.”
I’ve been around long enough to know that there are plenty that claim to “trust” God while refusing to obey Him. There are plenty who pray for help despite their disloyalty. I’ve also been around long enough to know that God still hears them and that His mercy is far superior to our failures. Just because His mercy is incredible doesn’t mean we should give Him less, we should give Him more. A better motto would have been “Christ Preeminent.” We settled, and we settled for less than God’s best. Is His mercy sufficient to overcome society’s rejection of even trusting Him? The same society that fell far short of obeying Him long ago? Only time will tell, but it seems fairly certain, He has never owed us any of what He has given us.
It’s not enough to trust God without obedience, not because His favor is dependent on our actions, but because our trust is. It’s easy to say: “In God We Trust” but it’s another thing altogether to live that trust. Of course our church used today as an opportunity to appeal to the community to get back to “In God We Trust.” I’m not criticizing that. I just hope to point out that claiming to trust God while ignoring His commands is a big self-deception. Once we’ve eliminated those that trust the government, their own money, and their own hands, connections, employer… more than God … we’re not left with many others.
God has shown His mercy but one doesn’t need to relinquish their patriot status to recognize that we’re looking more and more like Israel in the time nearing the exile every day. There’s a fine line to walk between patriotism and faith. For some, our patriotism is tied to our faith. For them: “In God We Trust” still means something. It means more than trusting government, or trusting the “good of humanity.” Christians know that there isn’t much (if any) good to be found in humanity without God. As Jesus said:
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone.“ – Luke 18:19
Don’t let your patriotism – or other people’s criticism for that matter – attempt to steal you from God’s hand. To truly trust God requires obedience and faith. Without those, it’s nothing but a cliche. I thank God for those that give their all for others, especially for Jesus who gave His all for everyone. God bless the USA, even though we know we don’t deserve it.