This Is Our Time: Everyday Myths in Light of the Gospel

by Trevin K. Wax

Some Christians fear that to disagree with their political party or their country’s policies is to be disloyal. Not so. Sometimes dissent is the greatest form of patriotism. William Wilberforce loved his country enough to expose the evils of the slave trade. Because he loved England, he wanted his country to live up to its virtues and values. Dietrich Bonhoeffer did not betray his German heritage when he opposed the rise of Nazism. He died a truer German than Hitler could ever have hoped to be. The main reason we should not feel “at home” in a political party is because we already belong to a political society. It’s called the Church.13 It transcends national borders and breaks down worldly barriers. There, we don’t vote for a president; we bow before a King. As the people of God, we should always feel in the world but not of the world, in America but not of America, in a political party but not of a political party. Embracing that tension is not weakness but faithfulness.