A Call to Prayer

I love America. Maybe too much. When my patriotism glands excrete, I can get carried away.

I believe this is the greatest country on Earth and I will full-body tackle and bite anybody who says different (oops. secreting). I’m grateful God put me here, and I’m sorry it took me so long to start appreciating it for what it is.

With freedom comes responsibility. Too often, we Americans (and we Christians) mistake liberty for license. True liberty is self-control. The self-discipline to put God or country or family before our own self interests. Our country collapses under the weight of selfishness.

This Sunday, our church participated in Call2Fall. This was a nationwide, possibly world-wide, call for Christians to fall to their knees and ask God to forgive us and our country for turning away from Him on a mass scale.

How many Christians claim the name without the fruit (or even a smidgen of Christian behavior, like reading the Bible ever)? How many believers think (like I used to) that belief alone is all you need? Politics won’t save anybody, but without the salt being salty and the light acting like light, how can the darkness tell the difference between us and them?

Christians, like Americans, need to be a people apart. Not from politics, but from corruption, from deceit, and from selfishness. When we put God first in our lives, we cannot help but affect our culture and our government. Our representatives are just that – representative. Of the culture, of our morals, of our priorities. Angry at your elected official? Take a good look at yourself and your fellows.

Before you set off your fireworks tonight, I encourage you to fall to your knees and ask God to once again set this country on fire for Him. Ask Him to forgive your selfishness and apathy. Ask Him to renew your faith and courage to behave like the salt and light you are.

Without God, America has no freedom. Thank Him for it, and ask His help in protecting it.