08/19/2026
There is a tendency today to talk about America in extremes.
To some, America can do no wrong. Our flag waves, our military is strong, our economy is enormous, and we remain the greatest nation on earth. Any criticism of America is treated almost as an act of disloyalty.
To others, America can do no right. They see our history primarily through the lens of slavery, injustice, greed, war, and oppression. They look at the American experiment and conclude that there is little worth defending. Both views miss something important.
America has done tremendous good. America has also done terrible wrong. And today, there are some things happening in our country that are simply ugly.
A Christian should be able to acknowledge all three. America remains one of the most remarkable experiments in self-government the world has ever known.
Our Declaration of Independence proclaimed a revolutionary idea: that human beings possess rights that do not come from government but from their Creator. Government therefore does not grant our fundamental rights. Its proper role is to protect them.
If government gives you your rights, government can take them away. But if rights come from God, government itself is subject to a higher authority.
Our constitutional system divided political power because the Founders understood something Scripture has taught for thousands of years: human beings are fallen. Concentrated power in the hands of imperfect people is dangerous. America also created extraordinary opportunity.
Generations of people arrived here with almost nothing and built businesses, farms, churches, communities, and families. Americans have invented medicines, technologies, machines, and industries that changed the world.
When disasters strike, Americans give. When neighbors lose their homes, churches mobilize. When families are hungry, volunteers fill food pantries. When hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and fires destroy communities, ordinary Americans show up with chainsaws, trailers, generators, food, money, and prayer...we witnessed this first hand during Helene.
America has also sacrificed enormously for freedom. Countless Americans left their families, crossed oceans, fought wars, and in many cases gave their lives.
Those things should not be forgotten. There is much about America worth loving. But loving your country does not require pretending it has never sinned.
America's history contains chapters we should never attempt to sanitize.
Slavery was evil. Racial segregation was wrong. Native peoples suffered terrible injustices. Government has sometimes abused its authority. Political leaders have lied. Corporations have exploited workers and consumers. Wars have sometimes involved disastrous decisions. Our government has spent money it did not have and accumulated staggering debt that future generations will inherit.
Acknowledging these failures does not make someone anti-American.
In fact, one of America's greatest strengths has been its ability to confront its own failures. The same nation that permitted slavery eventually abolished it. The country that tolerated segregation eventually dismantled its legal foundations.
Americans have repeatedly used the freedoms protected by our Constitution to challenge their own government. That is extraordinary. We should teach our children America's accomplishments without hiding America's failures. Truth does not weaken a nation. Lies do.
The greatest danger facing America today may not come from another country. It may come from what is happening inside us.
We are becoming a nation that demands rights while increasingly rejecting responsibility.
We want prosperity without work. Freedom without consequences.
Government benefits without taxes. Children without parental responsibility. Education without discipline. Leadership without character. Debt without repayment. And increasingly, morality without God. No political party can fix that. No president can fix that. Congress cannot pass a law restoring the American family. The Federal Reserve cannot print character. Washington cannot manufacture virtue. The deeper problem is spiritual and cultural.
Scripture warns:
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”
(Proverbs 14:34)
America's survival has never depended merely upon having the largest military or the strongest economy. A free society requires people capable of governing themselves and that requires character.
John Adams famously wrote that the Constitution was made for “a moral and religious People” and was inadequate for governing any other. Why? Because liberty without self-restraint eventually becomes chaos.
When people will not govern themselves internally, government inevitably attempts to govern them externally. More laws. More regulations. More surveillance. More bureaucracy. More government. And eventually, less liberty. That should concern every single one of us Americans!
AMERICA DOES NOT NEED TO BE WORSHIPPED. IT NEEDS TO BE RESTORED! Christians must be especially careful here. America is not the Kingdom of God. The American flag is not the Cross. The Constitution is not Scripture. And no politician is our Savior. Our ultimate allegiance belongs to Jesus Christ. But that does not mean Christians should abandon the public square.
We should be among the most responsible citizens in America precisely because we understand that government is not God.
We should defend religious liberty, protect innocent life, demand equal justice, care for the poor without creating permanent dependency, honor marriage and family, expect personal responsibility, protect freedom of speech, defend constitutional government, hold leaders accountable — including leaders we voted for! And... we should never become so loyal to a political party that we excuse behavior we would condemn if the other party did it. Truth must outrank party and principle must outrank personality. And mostly - God must outrank country.
Friends - WHICH AMERICA WILL WE LEAVE BEHIND?
The question is not whether America has been perfect. It has not.
The question is whether the American experiment — ordered liberty, constitutional government, religious freedom, personal responsibility, equal justice, and rights endowed by our Creator — is worth preserving. I believe it is. But preservation requires more than waving a flag on Independence Day. It requires citizens willing to tell the truth about the good, the bad, and the ugly.
We should celebrate the good, learn from the bad, and confront the ugly.
And above all, remember where our hope ultimately belongs. America does not need citizens who hate her. Neither does she need citizens who worship her.
She needs citizens who love her enough to tell the truth, courageous enough to defend what is right, humble enough to admit what is wrong, and faithful enough to understand that no nation can indefinitely reject God, abandon truth, destroy the family, surrender personal responsibility, and still expect liberty to survive. The future of America will not ultimately be decided in Washington. It will be decided in our homes, In our churches, in our schools, in our communities, and in the hearts of her people!
I'll leave you one more thing to think about...
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.” — Psalm 33:12
Have a great day, y'all!
