Respect

Before reading this post, please read this and watch the video clip at the end.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for David Platt and how he handled this. His longing to guard the integrity of the gospel in his church ought to be the longing of all of us who belong to Christ. Platt wonderfully did not allow this to become a distraction from the main message of our unity in Christ, and chose, instead, to allow his pastor's heart to shine through and to speak the gospel truth and to demonstrate beautifully how we are to pray for our leaders - no matter who that leader is. He was humble, gentle, and respectful, and he was laser-focused on Jesus. 

I have grown discouraged with what I see as a too America-centric view of Christianity in my country, especially among my tribe - those who lean conservative. Too often we tend to blend patriotism with worship of Christ and it is not right. It just isn’t. It becomes a syncretistic different gospel, all too often. If our church service is more American than it is Christian, we are doing it wrong.  If we are known more for being “America first” than we are all about JESUS first, we are doing it wrong.  

Please don’t get me wrong. I love my country, and I am patriotic. I am not saying it is wrong to have strong political opinions and beliefs and to be civically active. If you know my family, you know the whole reason we move as often as we do demonstrates our family’s service to our country. HOWEVER, that pales into nothingness compared to my worship of my Savior. HE is supreme, and He will not share His glory with anyone or any nation. Being a proud American and wanting to make her ‘great' is not what makes one a good Christian.  Christianity is not America first.  Christianity is Christ first, Christ above all, and Christianity, the good news of the Gospel, is for the whole world. 

So, watching David Platt graciously pray for our president in such a gospel-saturated way makes my heart sing.  His longing not to have the main message be obscured is admirable, and I hope more of us will have such a longing. That is the very reason I’ve chosen not to talk much about politics on my social media. We must not obscure our message. Jesus is everything. He is supreme and sovereign over all.