Don’t forget to check out this week’s “Tapestry Threads” at the end of the newsletter. All the links this week relate to America and the 250th anniversary of our nation’s birth.
This Fourth of July, we recommit to being God’s Chosen People among God’s Almost Chosen People.
It was Abraham Lincoln who called the United States God’s “almost chosen people.” In February 1861, on the route to his inauguration as America’s 16th president, he made a stop in Trenton, New Jersey. There, he told the legislature that he regarded himself as a “humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this, his almost chosen people.”
We should embrace Lincoln’s adroit view of America. It recognizes the nation’s uniqueness in the world while avoiding the notion that America is the very vanguard of God’s kingdom.
After all, it was only blood-bought Christians from every tribe and tongue whom Simon Peter called “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession” (1 Peter 2:9).
So, we carry two passports. We love our country, we serve in its armed forces, and we run for its offices. Hopefully, we make it a little better by doing so. But “our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:30).
The late Chuck Colson wrote:
The Christian position is beautifully balanced. On the one hand, we don’t deify our country. We don’t wrap the flag around the cross. For we know that our ultimate citizenship is in heaven, and that’s where our ultimate allegiance is. But at the same time, the only place for expressing that allegiance is in concrete loyalties God has called us to here on earth—including loyalty to country. We can’t love mankind in the abstract; we can only really love people in the particular, concrete relationships God has placed us in—in our family, church, community… and our nation. The Christian has the balanced understanding.
Thus, when American Christians fly their flag on this Independence Day, it is as a symbol “of the common good of the specific people a sovereign God has called them to serve” (Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict, page 257).
We love our country in obedience to a higher loyalty. Rich Mullins captured this so beautifully in his song, “Land of My Sojourn”—
Nobody tells you when you get born here
How much you’ll come to love it
And how you’ll never belong here
So I call you my country
And I’ll be lonely for my home
And I wish that I could take you there with me
Happy Independence Day!
--Tom
Note: If you’ve read my “Winning Ways” newsletters for a while, you may recognize today’s article from a year ago. I decided to republish it in preparation for this Sunday’s planned sermon, which covers the same subject. Join us on campus or online this Sunday, July 5, 10am.
Each week in this space, I provide links to articles and podcast episodes that I recommend you check out for yourself. This week’s Tapestry Threads are all on the subject of America at 250 years old.
Free Book! One Nation Under God: A collection of essays reflecting on 250 years of faith and democracy from our convention’s thought leaders.
On this podcast episode, Dr. RaShan Frost, ERLC director of research, speaks with Dr. Nathan Finn and Dan Darling. In light of this significant milestone in America’s history, they’ll discuss what healthy Christian patriotism looks like and how to cultivate a holistic, unified public witness in our current context.
How America Fractured into Four Parts, by George Packer for the Atlantic in 2021.
Just before he died, Tim Keller wrote an article about Packer’s “Four Americas,” pointing out the hopes—and the idolatries—found in each of the four.
In this article, A.S. Ibrahim says the immigrant “deeply understands the strengths of America because he has experienced life without them.”
National pride is declining in America. And it’s splitting by party lines, new Gallup polling shows.
As we recognize the U.S.’s 250th birthday, the question of whether or not America is a Christian nation or whether or not it was intended to be one continues to show its face in social media feeds, newspapers, podcasts, pulpits and schoolrooms. Joseph Holmes discusses the matter with three American Christian professors, Matthew Parks, Joseph Loconte, and David Corbin.
Some of us are old enough to remember America’s bicentinniel. Pew Research reports on what’s changed in America since her 200th birthday in 1976 and her 250th in 2026.
Watch Benjamin Rush: The American Revolution’s Indispensible Doctor for just $3.99 here. The trailer:
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