Understanding the relationship between earthly citizenship and Kingdom citizenship is vital for followers of Jesus in our increasingly divided times. Daniel shows us the way.
One of my favorite songs is by Gable Price & Friends and Kristine DiMarco: “You Are My Country.”
This song speaks to the tension perpetually faced by God’s people, wherever or whenever they live: how can we be good citizens of an earthly kingdom while simultaneously being citizens of Christ’s Kingdom? If you have yet to hear the song, give it a listen. Many will disagree with one aspect or another of the worldview expressed, but that doesn’t diminish the value of listening to it. Indeed, it may be the entire point.
For many Christians living in America, it is tempting to adopt a “God is on my side” approach to faith, synthesizing the Good News & Jesus with the platform of the political party to which they’ve allied themselves. This syncretism leads to Republicans shoehorning Jesus into a flag-waving, gun-toting, greed-celebrating caricature. And it leads to Democrats reimagining Jesus as a limp-wristed, LGBTQIA+-affirming, virtue-signaling wokester.
The trouble is Jesus doesn’t fit neatly into our boxes. The deeper we dive into His life and teaching, we increasingly realize that while He sometimes agrees with our side, He also frequently challenges it.
Which is why You Are My Country is so good. It asks several questions that should force all of us to wrestle with our syncretistic tendencies:
Can we tell God from a man-made king?
Can we tell love from a promise ring?
Can we tell the Kingdom from the kingdom where we lay our head down at night?
And then the punchline:
You are my country
What resonates throughout the song is that the “you” being addressed is ambiguous. It could refer to the listener. If so, the artists intend to communicate their allegiance to their fellow humans. Or, “you” could be to the duet partner, expressing devotion and relationship between two particular humans.
It’s not until the song’s last two lines that the referent is made clear, but not in a way that negates the earlier interpretations. Instead, it serves to highlight the following:
You are the king
We give you back the crown
King Jesus is the You, but King Jesus is the one who tells us that “whatever you do for the least of these,” you do for Him. King Jesus is the one who commands us to “love one another” as He has loved us.”
It is easy to forget that our allegiance to Jesus must inform our engagement with those around us. This fact is always true, but especially in politically charged times.
We need songs like You Are My Country that challenge us, but there are also biblical examples that we should heed. The Book of Daniel is an excellent source for examples of navigating culturally fraught times. One of the best encouragements for faithfulness in that biblical book isn’t found in what is written but rather in what isn’t.
First, we must remember that the biblical books didn’t initially have the chapter and verse divisions our modern Bibles do. Instead, the narrative was uninterrupted and meant to be taken together.
In chapter 4, Daniel is serving under King Nebuchadnezzar. Then, after what seems to be a chapter break, we are told that the king Daniel serves is named King Belshazzar in chapter 5. Natural enough for a new chapter to introduce a new character.
The trouble is that the chapter break disguises the surprising shift between rulers. Reading the texts together, however, we can see that the narrative change is designed not to record a transition from one king to another but to highlight the difference between the two kings. King Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged the sovereignty of YHWH, the Most High God. King Belshazzar did not.
That’s the narrative point, but the extra-biblical, historical details are fascinating and showcase the admirable nature of Daniel’s faith in his time of sojourn. Far from it being a clean transition between two kings, what happened was that Daniel continued to be in a position to influence not two but rather six administrations, spanning two internal coups and one external conquest.
How was he able to remain faithful through all of that upheaval? I think that it’s because while Daniel served each of those administrations, he offered his ultimate allegiance to no one but God. His refusal to get caught up in the political infighting and take sides in the culture wars of his day meant that he could remain faithful to God and thus be capable of serving multiple rulers, families, and nations.
And Daniel didn’t know Jesus. He didn’t have the Holy Spirit ever-present in his life.
How much more should Jesus-followers be able to distinguish “the Kingdom from the kingdom where we lay our heads down?”
How much more should those indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God ask, “is there really a winner, if we both have broken bones?”
We can be good citizens of the United States of America, Australia, and China, but only if we are, first and ultimately, good citizens of Christ’s Kingdom. We cannot conflate those two citizenships or treat them as separate.
We should begin pledging allegiance to Jesus, above all.
If we need words, Price and Friends have a suggestion:
I pledge allegiance to the presence no matter what it costs
The only war I’m begging for was finished on the cross…
…The scars in his hands, the stripes in his back, I’ll say now I’ve seen
You are my (country).
Of Shepherds and Sheep 