It’s not “absence”. It’s not the absence of a liberal agenda. It’s not the absence of big government. It’s not the absence of people who irritate us.

When nations have big, big changes that people want to see, they often think that if they get rid of the irritating people and/or the evildoers, all will be well. If the bad stuff is gone, the good guys naturally rise to the top, right?

Wrong.

Look at history. After the American Revolution, some other countries decided that aristocracy was their problem, too. If the aristocracy were eliminated in many countries, everything would be good!

Think about France. When the aristocracy was ousted in the French Revolution, the new government did not suddenly become perfect. Within ten years of the beginning of the French Revolution, Napoleon seized power.

When the proletariat revolted in Russia, although they ousted the aristocracy, the nation was soon ruled by a dictator, Joseph Stalin. Stalin promised that someday a true communist government would happen…but never did.

The United States, for all its flaws, has the history of being a country that made the big change, and the big change worked.

When we fought the American Revolution to set ourselves free from the rule of the British king, our forefathers actually set forth a new nation that actually worked as the representative democracy that they promised. No dictator arose.

What made the US work? What helped make it a great nation? What is different about the US?

We had several things: A Constitution and the agreement to keep it as the law of the land, shared values, natural, protected rights.

Did you catch that?

We didn’t simply get rid of something; we created a new thing and made it values-based and clear through our Constitution.

The United States had something they had formed, not simply getting rid of the aristocracy.

They had a new nation that had a concrete document (the Constitution) that everyone agreed to uphold. A true and respected Constitution gives the nation goals and a way to get there. The goals included forming a government “of the people, by the people, for the people”. The way to make that kind of government happen is outlined in the Constitution with three branches of government, checks and balances, and clearly spelled out rights of the people.

Just as important, they had values that were important enough to fight a Revolution. Values steer a country and keep it on the Constitutional path. The values that made our nation great included: the power of community, the rule of law, and equality of rights for all. (Those rights included the natural right to life, the natural right to liberty, the natural right to pursue happiness, the natural right to own property, and the natural right to general wellbeing for all.)

What do we do with this information today?

It helps to start by remembering our national values. When we remember our values, it is harder to be manipulated by those who do not have the best interests of the nation in mind. Again, some of our American values are the power of community, the rule of law, and equality of rights for all.

We have individual values, as well.

We can be manipulated and tricked by smart, greedy people if we forget our personal values.

As Christians, we are given a value system that includes: following the Great Commandments (love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself; Matthew 22: 34-40), growing in the Fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control; Galatians 5: 22-23), and more.

A lesson to learn

If we want to make our nation great, it might be good to live by our values!

Can you imagine what would happen if all of us Christians followed our guiding document (the Bible) and lived the value system given to us in that document?

If we had put as much effort into fulfilling our own value system in our own lives, instead of putting our efforts into trying to eliminate the value systems of those who don’t align with us, perhaps we would not have been tricked into the chaos of our current political problems. “Getting rid of” often leads to power grabs by unscrupulous people. Living our values can give others an inspiration to look towards and a better life to believe for.

I came from a generation of Christians who were taught that things would only “be right” when we get rid of other people’s sins.

We were taught by our Christian leaders that we had to get laws passed to make other people behave in a way that made it most comfortable (or “safe”) for us Christians. So, rather than fulfilling our scriptural values, we took on a different value: the value of legislating change.

What came of that?

Large numbers of people left the churches and became “nones and dones”. People who don’t know God were not drawn to the gospel, but rather, they were repelled by Christians. We are now seeing in the culture and politics, the chaos of power-hungry people trying to get what they can while the country is weak from ugliness and division.

What can we do?

Perhaps we could recalibrate by spending time studying the Gospels and Epistles? Perhaps we could create a personal list of the values that God wants us to live out? Perhaps it would help to make our own personal “constitution” or mission statement to help us stay calibrated with God’s values and goals?

Something to pray about…