Two thoughts. The first is from W. Gregory Pope, The Inner Struggle, “On a holiday weekend like this one, we are reminded of the inner struggle of allegiance. We want to celebrate this land that we love, and rightly so, and yet we want to be careful that our allegiance to country never supersedes nor is ever equivalent to our allegiance to God. We sing “God Bless America,” and yet we know that our faith will not allow us to ask God’s favoritism toward us over other nations. We know there are no national boundary lines with God.
“We struggle to love our country when our government acts in ways we feel are contrary to God’s ways of justice and peace. But we love our country by calling it to God’s ways of justice and peace. We must not let our fear and struggle render us silent and still. Our first allegiance is to the God whose truth still marches on.”
Two, French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831,
said, "I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests--and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich mines, her vast world commerce, her public school system, and in her institutions of higher learning--and it was not there. I looked for it in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution--and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!" -DJ
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