America is Not Permanent

I have been known to vote for Republicans, as much as that may distress or dismay some of you.  I also was born in and share the blessings and comforts of America.  Yet I do not see myself primarily as either Republican or American.  Some people had, consciously or unconsciously, so seen America as the new heaven on earth that when 9/11 came, and its boundaries were transgressed, its buildings destroyed by its enemies, it was like the very foundation of the universe had shaken beneath them.  This was totally unexpected, and completely outside their previous paradigms of the way things are supposed to work.

I hope I’m not being too fatalistic or depressing by saying this, but in truth, America is not permanent.  It is not eternal.  We can participate in its shared life, fulfill our reasonable responsibilities as its citizens, and perhaps even give our lives in its service.  But we do so, always, understanding that it will someday disappear.  Perhaps it will last until Christ comes again.  But then again, it may not.  In either case, America will end.

“Look!  I am creating new heavens and a new earth—so wonderful that no one will even think about the old ones anymore.  Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation!” says the Lord.  If we base our sense of security, our happiness or satisfaction, on the treadmill of fashion, the progress of academia, making others happy, our own pleasure, our own strength, or a million other temporary things, we set ourselves up for disappointment.  But if we lay our identity’s foundation on things that will last, then we too will survive, even as the nations—our own nation included—fall.

I certainly have no desire to tear down or destroy our nation, our government, or our society.  But before nation, city, state, club, college, company, family, or any other merely human association, I do pledge allegiance to Christ.  I come to the table He has set out.  I consume and am consumed by the Body of Christ.  I rejoice in God’s creation.  As God’s kingdom comes, I remember that His creation is and will be so wonderful, so great, that what we once thought was wonderful will someday be forgotten, in light of what God has yet in store.

For this is what the Lord himself said, and I pass it on to you just as I received it. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."  In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant between God and you, sealed by the shedding of my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it."  For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again.