God and Country
By Jack Wyman
He was short, a little over five feet tall. He was slight, barely 100 pounds.
You wouldn’t pick him out in a crowd without effort. He’d likely be in the back of the room, dressed neatly in a black suit.
Reinforcing his unobtrusive appearance was a shy, serious, and quiet temperament. He spoke barely above a whisper. He was deliberative, circumspect, and judicious, careful in what he thought and said, and how he said it.
If you listened intently, he’d be worth your attempt to hear him.
Belying his physical diminutiveness, earnest inconspicuousness and social reticence, he stands as a giant of history and the American founding.
He’s been known to generations of students as the brilliant “Father of the Constitution”, though he might humbly eschew that grandiose title. He was always willing to share the credit and to work in collaboration with others, usually behind the scenes.
It may be argued that James Madison bears the lion’s share of responsibility and commendation for the creation of the oldest and greatest form of true self-government in the history of the world. No other founder had such an acute and precise understanding of human nature—or what it would take to rein it in.
Our federal separation of powers, and checks and balances, the guarantors of republican democracy, are the lasing legacy of the shy Virginian.
Jefferson eloquently declared independence, human dignity, and the rights of humankind. Madison helped to guide and lead other brilliant men in forming a government that would forever enshrine those cherished God-given rights.
What would James Madison say if he was here today? What would he think?
Our darkening political passions and deepening divisions would concern him. If men were angels, Madison observed, no government would be necessary. He knew men were hardly angels—the scriptures he studied as a young man at Princeton, and experience itself, had taught him that.
Madison carefully endeavored to ensure that the framework of the Constitution would prevent the corrupt concentration of power and the chaos and calamity of unbridled emotions.
The crowds could never be trusted to think or act on behalf of the public interest. When left to their own devices, Madison wrote in The Federalist Papers, “passion never fails to wrest the scepter from reason.”
We have seen this time and time again. Mob rule never leads to a good end—it leads to the end of a rope.
Madison would be alarmed at the angry and unreasoning polarization of social media and cable news, the bitter and destructive partisanship, the shallow slogans, the ridicule of opponents, widespread lawlessness and violence, the narcissism of singular ambition, and the easy surrender and manipulation of truth.
The man who knew what men were capable of would be appalled at witnessing what he had worked so hard to avoid. He would fear the dissolution of our republic.
Madison knew he could not change human nature. He had hoped to restrain it in the achievement of ordered liberty and the united journey toward a more perfect union.
Daniel Webster said that whatever made a person a good Christian would also make him a good citizen. With American citizenship threatened by cynicism and division, what kind of people should we be? How should we live?
We must begin with our allegiance and our faith. God is sovereign. Whoever is president, Christ is King. Believing this, Christians do not panic, we do not fear, we do not lash out. We do not behave as though we have no hope. You and I have all the hope in the world—and beyond.
We place our trust in God. We must not place our faith in any partisan, political or ideological victory. Or the defeat of our adversaries. We must remember and never forget, in these difficult times, that our Savior has already won the victory, on the cross and through his resurrection from the dead. Victory is ours!
Satan is a defeated foe. Though he is powerful, and though he claims this fallen sinful world as his domain, and though we must mightily resist and struggle against him, his doom, as Luther wrote, is sure.
Our hope is not in politics, politicians, election victories, or political power. Our hope is in Jesus Christ alone. Knowing this guides our conduct in this world.
James tells us we must be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry (James 1:19). We must think and pray before we post and tweet. We must love the world before we speak truth to the world. Let’s not get caught up in the social media and cable network mob.
You and I must understand the nature of this warfare. It is spiritual, not political. Our weapons, the Bible tells us, are not carnal. They are stronger than that. Our weapons are spiritual, beginning with love.
It does not know it, but our world needs the love of God more than anything else. Love is the great authenticator of our faith.
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. People are not our enemies. Our times are said to be the most divisive since the Civil War. On the eve of that horrific conflict, Abraham Lincoln acknowledged that passions had strained “our bonds of affection” but must not be permitted to break them. “We must not be enemies,” he pleaded.
Should this not also be the Christian’s response today?
Let us remain calm, confident, thoughtful, peaceful, and self-controlled at all times. Yes, always engaged, always informed, always concerned, committed, and courageous. Always prepared, as Peter tells us, to stand and to speak our Christian heart and mind. Never compromising, never apologizing, never surrendering.
We must also never succumb to angry passions. It’s bad for our republic, as Madison knew, and it’s a poor testament to our Christian faith, which is rooted and grounded, not in fear, hate or anger, but in love and in truth.
In this, we best serve our God and our country.
To order Jack Wyman’s book, “Everything Else: Stories of Life, Faith and Our World”, go to amazon.com, Christian Book Distributors or barnesandnoble.com. It is also available on Kindle and eBooks.
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