America the Beautiful is a popular US patriotic song that many even prefer to the US Anthem itself. The lyrics are a mix of nationalism and Christian themed stanzas like this:
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
But the central Christian purpose in life is not to love your country more than self, or anything or anyone else for that matter, but God alone! This is told to us in the first and greatest of all commandments, the Shema, repeated by Jesus in Mar 12:29.
The first of all the commandments is: Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, is one LORD.
The LORD God also says:
I love those who love me. Proverbs 8:17a
The Christian mission is not to solve the world’s problems but to preach the Gospel about the KOG and the things concerning His uniquely procreated Son Jesus, the Messiah (Acts 8.12). And Paul says this to the church at Rome:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1
But sadly, most Christians are America First or England First or whatever country First before they’re Christians. Hence, throughout the scriptures we find warnings like James 4.4:
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
This is why, even after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to the Apostles for a further 40 days to continue teaching them about the kingdom of God. Acts 1:3
And before his departure the Apostles asked Jesus:
Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time? Acts 1:6
According to the Expositor’s Bible Commentary this Apostolic question “reflects the embers of a once blazing hope for a political theocracy in which they would be leaders.”
So I again appeal to anyone watching or listening not to let those once blazing kingdom hope embers die by a well-meaning but ultimately misguided sense of patriotic duty!
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. Eccl. 12.13
