Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.” vs. 12
Psalm 33:12-17
The psalmist believed that the children of Israel were God’s chosen people. This sentiment appears regularly in the Hebrew scriptures and has continued to be the foundation of Judaism. Even today the nation of Israel sees itself as having that special relationship to the Lord, and there is a credible scriptural basis for that belief. Of course, those who have been called to follow Jesus have a different perspective and have come to believe that all people are children of God, and that no nation has special status in God’s sight. They see themselves in a larger context as being in Christ, and inhabitants of God’s transnational peaceable kingdom. In recent years, particularly in the United States, there has been a movement to use the language of the psalmist with reference to our own country. And it sounds good to our ears. We now use it regularly in our pledge of allegiance, where we are “one nation under God,” and we declare on all our coins and currency, “in God we trust.” And now there are some who want to go further still and who would love to make Christianity the American religion. The problem is that adopting such a stance even informally takes us far from the inclusive teachings of Jesus and Paul. All nations are under God, and Jesus is the Lord of all people: Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and even the atheists, and he loves them all!
Thought for the Day: Why are most politicians so religious?
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