As Christians who are Americans, we live in two worlds. St. Augustine described the life of a Christian as a citizen of the City of God and the City of Man. Mature Christians understand this tension. They understand that God calls us to both a deeply private and public faith. Our personal lives and relationship with God are essential, but we dare not stop there. God also cares about our actions, our decisions, our treatment of our neighbors, and how our leaders live and lead. We cannot embrace a pietistic idea of a private faith that has no impact on the world around us. We also cannot baptize our faith in a triumphant desire for control or mere pragmatism. A robust faith remains anchored in the Gospel, while seeking the good of our country, lived out with humility.
As Christians, our primary concern is always to honor God in all of life. This means loving our neighbor and loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. (Mark 12:30-31) What is often lost in discussions of this verse is the idea that loving our neighbor is not only caring for the poor and needy in our city, but a passion for building a society that is good, just, and filled with the shalom of God. It is a society where our government restrains evil, promotes justice, and leads in a way that promotes human flourishing for all its citizens. This is why Christians should care deeply about the design of their cities, the leaders of their cities, and the laws of their cities. These are the areas in which pietism simply does not fulfill the commandment to love your neighbor. If our faith has no public impact, we should question our commitments or our understanding of Scripture.
Every year on Presidents Day, we recognize that our current leaders are fallible, and therefore desperately need the prayers of believers while they are in office. No matter who is in office, who we voted for, or how much we are frustrated with politics, our hope is in God. This is why we are called to pray that our leaders will lead in a God-honoring manner. It is why we pray that God will use them for good in our country and in the countries our leader has the power to impact.
God always uses flawed men to bring about the true, good, and beautiful in the world. On Presidents Day, we must thank God and pray for our leaders.
We don’t pray for leaders simply because it is a good idea. We pray for them because Scripture implores us to pray for those in authority. The pressures of leadership, the temptations to compromise, the opportunities to ensure justice, and the need for discernment are unparalleled. Their leadership impacts hundreds of millions of lives. Those lives are not faceless names in a census or a political poll, but lives are men and women created in the image of God.
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
– 1 Timothy 2:1-2 (ESV)
Recent Ivy League graduates have been taught to despise early American presidents. This is often due to them having slaves, for their treatment of the Native Americans, or other faults. We cannot and should not deny their faults, but if we stop there, we are embracing a naive and shallow perspective. If we are robust in our assessment, we must also recognize their contributions. Just as great characters in the Bible had great faults, it should not surprise us that leaders in recent centuries also had faults. King David, King Solomon, the Apostle Paul, and many others were deeply broken people whom God used, even though they were far from perfect. To be intellectually honest, we must always remember, if the requirement for leadership was perfection, we would have no leaders.
God always uses broken men and women to bring about what is good, true, and beautiful. It is rarely on our timeline, but it is true. Slavery was ended because of the rich faith and Biblical commitment of our forefathers to recognize that all men and women are “endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights.” Lincoln’s leadership in the abolition of slavery was also anchored in his faith. Therefore, we should both mourn the endorsement of slavery by christian leaders and political leaders in our early history, while at the same time thanking God that eventually, abolition also became a hallmark of our heritage. When we look closely, we should be thankful for our past Presidents and other leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. for pointing us back to the truths of God’s word, which are timeless and life-giving. Those are the kinds of leaders we need in every election.
Too many students have been taught to reduce past presidents to one negative facet of their lives. Thus, they tore down monuments in recent years and embraced bitterness and hatred towards leaders. This is the product of Cultural Marxism. It foments bitterness in the heart, hatred of their neighbor, and self-righteousness that leads them to justify their hatred. There is no spiritual fruit of love, mercy, or forgiveness in these pursuits. It begins in self-righteousness and ends in a heart full of bitterness. If that has been part of your story, we encourage you to find the freedom that comes from a robust faith and a deeply Biblical approach.
We need not demonize or whitewash our history. What we need is the Gospel. We are all broken, and so were our forefathers. We all need forgiveness, and we all need God’s help to love our neighbor as we strive to honor God with all our life. We all need God’s grace and wisdom to contribute to a society where all can flourish. If our country is to heal from recent years and decades, it will come from the Gospel. Join us today in praying for our leaders, that they will look to God for guidance so that they might build a more perfect union, a more just state, and a more God-honoring country.
How does a godly woman or man celebrate Presidents Day? We Pray. We thank God for his grace and the great things God has done through our country, such as ending slavery and stopping the evil of Hitler. We also thank God for His mercy and grace, as we recognize our failures. We ask God to make us better citizens of the City of God by growing in our daily walk as followers of Christ. We also ask God to make us better citizens of the City of Man, pursuing a society that is just, good, and beautiful. It is often important to remember the basic reason why we pray. We pray because only God can ensure these things. Our efforts are futile without God’s blessing, so our only true hope is in God.
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