Hello everyone! I have decided to start a new blog separate from this one. Below is my first post. I won’t be making any more posts on this blog after this, but if you still want to follow me, you can find a link to my new blog here: https://ethanpat98.wordpress.com/2020/11/03/kingdom-citizens/
Go ahead and subscribe there for more! Thanks 🙂
Hey everybody! Thank you so much for coming to read my new blog! I hope and pray that God will speak to you through my writing. Recently, I have been greatly concerned about the things I have been seeing on social media and the news regarding the political situation in the United States. There is so much hate and disunity in our nation and in the church right now. These are the reasons why I have begun writing this blog. I think God has been pressing me to challenge my own beliefs and opinions on certain issues, and to take a different perspective on the United States and the world as a whole.
Today is election day. No matter who wins, there is going to be a lot of chaos in our country for a little while. The people of this nation have never been more divided, politically or otherwise. I could write this post about how, no matter what happens, God is still in control. I could write about how we are supposed to submit to our authorities no matter who it is, as long as doing so doesn’t require you to disobey God. I could write about how our country was founded on Christian values and we need to return to our roots. However, I am not going to write about any of those things.
I have entitled my blog “Kingdom Citizens.” I want to write about how we are first and foremost citizens of the Kingdom of God. In each and every one of my posts from here on, I want to challenge you to have a Kingdom perspective on worldly issues. I want you to try to look at things here on earth from the point of view of heaven. Yes, we are citizens of the United States, and God wants us to be. After all, Jesus said “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s” (Matt. 22:21). Jesus said that to a group of Jews who were tired of oppression by Rome. They thought Jesus was there to deliver them from Rome. How revolutionary that statement must have been to them when He said it. Obviously, Jesus wanted them to serve their political leaders no matter how much the leaders didn’t seem to “deserve it,” just like he wants us to serve our leaders today, in our own country. However, I think we are often too preoccupied giving to Caesar that we completely forget about God.
The truth is, we are Christ’s ambassadors here on earth (2 Cor. 5:20). As much as we’re supposed to serve our country, we are to serve the Kingdom even more. The bible says we are “foreigners and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11) in a pagan land. We are not from here; we only live here temporarily. We should keep our eyes fixed on heaven and the promise that we have in Jesus that we will live there with Him someday. And as ambassadors of Christ, we must advocate for the advancement of His Kingdom in this foreign land.
I think we need to focus more on unifying the Kingdom. I’m sick of seeing Christians argue back and forth on social media about issues like whether or not we should be wearing masks. Everyone has their opinions (I definitely have mine), and everyone has good points. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with having a civil discussion about our opinions. In fact, I think we should do more of that. What I hate is that nobody is trying to see things from anybody else’s perspective because they are too busy trying to convince everyone that their opinion is right, while everybody else’s is wrong. There is one truth (God), and everyone has a different perspective on or interpretation of that truth. God is so great, and will never be completely understood by any human. I think God chooses to reveal different parts of Himself to different people so that we can all learn from each other. Just because God has given you a heart for something specific doesn’t mean that He has given everyone else that same heart. Showing unity in the Kingdom, especially in a time such as this, will be a huge testament to the love of God.
I’ve heard a lot of people say, regardless of which presidential candidate they support, that if the other candidate wins, we’ve lost all hope. That if we let this guy take office, we are all doomed. And that may be true for America as we now know it. The two main presidential candidates will definitely take the United States in very different direction, both of which could potentially change the country drastically. But I’m here to tell you that America is not the last hope for mankind. Jesus is the last (and the only) hope for mankind. America has only been around for the last 225 years. Jesus lived and died 2000 years ago. We need to stop acting like America is the savior of the world. Jesus is the Savior of the world. Just because America is heading in a direction we might not want it to be headed doesn’t mean that Jesus can’t continue to work here through us as His ambassadors. For all we know, the idea of the United States of America could cease to exist sometime in the next 100 years. We need to stop acting like that means that Satan has won. Jesus has already won. He won when he conquered death and rose from the grave.
These are just some of the thoughts I’ve been having for the past weeks and months leading up to this election. The Lord has been challenging my perspective and I hope He does the same to you. I pray that He uses my words to reach into your heart and press you to grow. Because no matter how much you grow, there’s always more you can learn. Again, thank you so much for reading. I hope you have a wonderful day 🙂
