We often hear phrases like “this country is hopeless”, especially in the midst of crises like the one we and the whole world faced (and still faces) in the area of health with the coronavirus, which also impacted other areas, one of them being the economy, with unemployment, high prices and instability in various sectors. But will your country be able to get back on its feet? And what is our role as citizens?
A good Christian should always be a good citizen
They tell him: From Caesar. And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.
Matthew 22:21
That being so, first of all Christians respect laws, obey them. A good Christian votes conscientiously, does not omit himself, but rather is present, fights for the transformation of the world and the society where he lives. He pays his taxes, no matter how heavy they are in his pocket. You can even fight for fairer taxes or for a more just society, for rulers who govern seriously, but without failing to fulfill their duties.
If we want a better country, we can start by doing the right thing ourselves. There is no point in demanding less corruption when you yourself are being corrupt in your “small” but significant everyday actions. We should be the example of a good citizen and that way God’s name will also be glorified, but when we act wrongly, give room for accusations, we shame our Lord.
The Christian and nature
And the Lord God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.
Genesis 2:15
Do you care for the environment? Did you know that you have been called to care for nature? How can a child of God who loves Him not love His creation? Our Father gave a command, still in Eden, to the human being: to take care of the Earth, to be stewards of creation. The concept of stewardship brings to the Christian the responsibility to work, as a citizen of heaven and earth, taking sustainable care of what God has entrusted to His hands.
This includes a number of things like separating garbage, not throwing it on the ground, seeking to reuse what you can, treating animals well, be conscientious about using natural resources like water and and so on. Our Father’s nature is the creation of life and not the destruction of it. The sky and nature declares His glory. We must take care of creation so that we glorify God as well.
Good works
Thus let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:16
Everything I talked about earlier is directly connected to this: good works. Not that because you don’t hold high office or rule a nation that you can’t cause transformations in it, and answering the question if there is hope for our country? Yes there is, as long as we all do our part, with Christ as our greatest example. We believe in a God of transformation and solution. He has the power to heal our nation and use us as agents for His Kingdom.
What can I do for my country?
You can pray for your country, vote conscientiously, be a good citizen, a good neighbor, respect your neighbor, care for God’s creation, spread peace instead of discord, practice generosity, and so on. It may seem like a lot, but it is not, in everyday life we have small choices to make that as a whole lead us to all of this. When we think about what Jesus would do, it is very easy to know what we must do. If our hope is in God, we can believe that our country can still be restored.
God bless
