Here's a great article on what it means to be a Christian living in America. It echoes a lot of the same feelings I've had. Due to my work with the church youth and trying to stay involved in politics, I am told all the time that we need to get fired up and take back this country. Or that it used to be a Christian nation and now it's slipping and we need to stop it before it's too late. But I could never really buy into that. I thought it was just apathy but in reality it's a sense of hopelessness. After all, as much as I care about this country, it is not my home. And there is a coming darkness that will require the complicity of the U.S. simply because we are too powerful for it to succeed otherwise. So the country is doomed eventually in any event.
Not that we shouldn't, of course, try to delay it as much as possible. But ultimately we will not win and the country will perish because it is of this world. So we should pray, and mourn, and, eventually, we should let go.
John Piper puts it better than I do (quoted in entirety and emphasis added):
The fact that Christians are exiles on the earth (1 Peter 2:11),
does not mean that they don’t care what becomes of culture.
But it does mean that they exert their influence as very happy,
brokenhearted outsiders. We are exiles. “Our citizenship is
in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ” (Philippians 3:20). “Here we have no lasting
city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews
13:14).
But we are very happy sojourners, because we have been commanded
by our bloody Champion to rejoice in exile miseries. “Blessed
are you when others . . . persecute you . . . on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven”
(Matthew 5:11-12). We are happy because the apostle Paul showed us
that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth
comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us”
(Romans 8:18). We are happy because there are merciful foretastes
everywhere in this fallen world, and God is glad for us to enjoy
them (1 Timothy 4:3; 6:17). And we are happy because we know that
the exiles will one day inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). Christ
died for sinners so that “all things” might one day
belong to his people (Romans 8:32).
But our joy is a brokenhearted joy, because Christ is worthy of
so much better obedience than we Christians render. Our joy is a
brokenhearted joy because so many people around the world have not
heard the good news that “Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). And our joy is a
brokenhearted joy because human culture –- in every society
–- dishonors Christ, glories in its shame, and is bent on
self-destruction.
This includes America. American culture does not belong to
Christians, neither in reality nor in Biblical theology. It never
has. The present tailspin toward Sodom is not a fall from Christian
ownership. “The whole world lies in the power of the evil
one” (1 John 5:19). It has since the fall, and it will till
Christ comes in open triumph. God’s rightful ownership will
be manifest in due time. The Lordship of Christ over all creation
is being manifest in stages, first the age of groaning, then the
age of glory. “We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the
Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the
redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23). The exiles are
groaning with the whole creation. We are waiting.
But Christian exiles are not passive. We do not smirk at the
misery or the merrymaking of immoral culture. We weep. Or we
should. This is my main point: being exiles does not mean being
cynical. It does not mean being indifferent or uninvolved. The salt
of the earth does not mock rotting meat. Where it can, it saves and
seasons. And where it can’t, it weeps. And the light of the
world does not withdraw, saying “good riddance” to
godless darkness. It labors to illuminate. But not dominate.
Being Christian exiles in American culture does not end our
influence; it takes the swagger out of it. We don’t get
cranky that our country has been taken away. We don’t whine
about the triumphs of evil. We are not hardened with anger. We
understand. This is not new. This was the way it was in the
beginning –- Antioch, Corinth, Athens, Rome. The Empire was
not just degenerate, it was deadly. For three explosive centuries
Christians paid for their Christ-exalting joy with blood. Many
still do. More will.
It never occurred to those early exiles that they should rant
about the ubiquity of secular humanism. The Imperial words were
still ringing in their ears: “You will be hated by all for my
name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be
saved” (Mark 13:13). This was a time for indomitable joy and
unwavering ministries of mercy.
Yes, it was a time for influence–-as it is now. But not
with huffing and puffing as if to reclaim our lost laws. Rather
with tears and persuasion and perseverance, knowing that the folly
of racism, and the exploitation of the poor, and the de-Godding of
education, and the horror of abortion, and the collapse of
heterosexual marriage, are the tragic death-tremors of joy, not the
victory of the left or the right.
The greatness of Christian exiles is not success but service.
Whether we win or lose, we witness to the way of truth and beauty
and joy. We don’t own culture, and we don’t rule it. We
serve it with brokenhearted joy and longsuffering mercy, for the
good of man and the glory of Jesus Christ.
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org