Living in Babylon

Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. Moreover, at Daniel's request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court. (Daniel 2:48-49)

And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. (Hebrews 11:13b-14)

I'm not first and foremost an American.  Don't get me wrong, I really like America, I feel very blessed to have been born and raised in this country and I am loyal to it.  However, my country is not here.  My first allegiance, and my love, belongs to the Kingdom of God.  It is the homeland of my family.  I was adopted into this family because of the work of my brother, Jesus Christ.  That allegiance should affect every aspect of my life, including and especially how I relate to government.

Daniel is instructive in this instance. Let's look at his circumstances and then his actions.  First, Daniel was a slave/captive.  You could call him a political prisoner if you wanted.  His country had been conquered and he had been taken to the capital of the enemy which now exerted control over him.  Point to emphasize; Daniel was not a voluntary Babylonian nor was he in governmental service by choice.  It had been forced upon him as part of his captivity.   Second, Babylon was a pagan country.   Let me repeat that one.  A pagan country.  It was not a country built on Biblical principles that had faded some.  It sometimes allowed some freedom of religion but also encouraged worship of the leader (Dan. 6:7-9).  We can confidently say that Babylon was not a "Christian" nation.   Daniel later served under Darius.  Same conditions applied.  Now, as to what Daniel did.  First, he stayed true to God.  (Dan 1:8, 6:10).  Secondly, he gave credit to God at every opportunity.  Thirdly, he served his pagan masters as loyally and excellently as he could while being faithful to God (Dan. 6:3 etc.).

What can we draw from this?  First, I think we need to make sure that we don't get so caught up in America as our country that we forget that our first allegiance is to Christ.  Having said that, I think that our duty is to be loyal and supportive of our government as much as we can while being faithful to God.  Too many Christians seem to act as if the very pagan aspects of the leadership of this country is some sort of personal affront.  Romney's mormonism or Obama's liberalism can't be much different than what Daniel faced.  As a resident of America, I will use my voice and my vote to honor God and I will gladly and joyfully share the joy of the values that God has instilled in me.  I will not expect America to be a Christian country.  Where do we get that idea?  Certainly NOT from the Bible.  Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world."   The minute we begin to conflate and confuse America with the Body of Christ, we are in trouble and will cause a lot of confusion.  The message of the Gospel will be lost in a message of social reform.   We should vote our values, serve our values and live our values, but we must remember that we are living in Babylon and we are not Babylonians.

There are many implications to these thoughts and I don't have the space to go into all of them now, but I challenge my Christian brothers to keep in mind that we are aliens and strangers in this land and we are here, by order of Jesus Christ, to make disciples in every nation.