{"id":935,"date":"2009-11-11T09:19:13","date_gmt":"2009-11-11T14:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"1632033486"},"modified":"2009-11-11T09:19:13","modified_gmt":"2009-11-11T14:19:13","slug":"veterans-day-the-tale-of-two-citizenships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/veterans-day-the-tale-of-two-citizenships\/","title":{"rendered":"Veteran’s Day: The Tale of Two Citizenships"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"\"Happy Veteran\u2019s Day to everyone out there.\u00a0\u00a0 I know we all thank God for those who\u2019ve made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t help but have Ft. Hood and the memorial service on my mind today.\u00a0 I watched the moving ceremony as thousands of members of the Ft. Hood family gathered to say good-bye to 13 of their comrades who had been murdered.<\/p>\n

I was impressed when President Obama acknowledged that the shooter would find justice in eternity and even on this earth.\u00a0 I was also impressed with his insight when he said no faith condones murder and the senseless taking of life for any reason.\u00a0 That a loving God does not smile on such things.<\/p>\n

A lot of people want to make it \u201cMuslim vs. Christian\u201d or \u201cMuslim vs. The World.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 But let\u2019s be honest.\u00a0 There are enough religious nuts in every religious camp for us to point fingers at each other every day.\u00a0 So let\u2019s not do that.\u00a0 Let\u2019s pause for a minute and make a distinction.<\/p>\n

As a follower of Jesus Christ, I do everything I possibly can to shun religion.\u00a0 I think religion is harmful and painful, and can justify any kind of outrageous behavior.\u00a0 Religion can even be pure evil in the wrong hands.\u00a0 But what I do advocate as a follower of Jesus, is acknowledge that we are indeed citizens of two countries.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a follower of Jesus, I believe I am a citizen of the Kingdom of God<\/strong>, a Kingdom that God Himself is building, a Kingdom characterized by redemption, reconciliation, and restoration; not war, unbridled consumption and selfishness.<\/p>\n

I am also a citizen of The United States of America<\/strong>, one that has a long heritage, but one I can also acknowledge has committed many sins itself.<\/p>\n

So here I am, a citizen of two nations: the Kingdom of God, and The Untied States of America.\u00a0 The question is, \u201cWho do I owe allegiance?\u201d\u00a0 And the response to that can come straight from Jesus when he said, \u201cGive to Caesar what is Caesar\u2019s and give to God what is God\u2019s.\u201d\u00a0 So here are my thoughts on Veteran\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

As a citizen of The United States of America, I have a responsibility<\/strong> to make of her the best I can; to be a participator, to take responsibility, to work hard, to pay my taxes, and to promote the good.\u00a0 My nation is, in part, mine to make or break.\u00a0 So in some sense, we\u2019re all nation-makes, culture-builders who are put here to work hard and make something.\u00a0 That means working together: working with black, white, Asian, and any other color you can think of, for the common good.\u00a0 There is no conflict in this citizenship and my citizenship in the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n

In the Kingdom of God, it is not mine to make<\/strong>.\u00a0 It is God\u2019s to make.\u00a0 The moment I think God has left the building and handed me the keys, and I\u2019m to force-fit everyone in the world into my way of thinking, I become the problem.\u00a0 I\u2019ll remember that in this Eternal Kingdom that I am a part of, that God is building it as He chooses, on His time, and in His way.\u00a0 I need not force anyone to give me compliance.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t need to condemn, cajole, or even try to win people to Jesus.\u00a0 He can do all those things by Himself.\u00a0 What I am to do is to love in His name<\/strong>, be good in His name, promote welfare in His name, be a peacemaker in His name; to bring about redemption, reconciliation, and restoration in His name.\u00a0 I\u2019ll let Him do the building.<\/p>\n

So on Veteran\u2019s day I say, \u201cYea God\u201d for this great nation, and \u201cYea\u201d to all my fellow citizens.\u00a0 Let\u2019s make of her something worthy of the sacrifice that has been paid.\u00a0 And to my other Kingdom, the Eternal Kingdom of God, a city built not by the hands of man; I\u2019ll let God do the building and I\u2019ll do the serving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy Veteran\u2019s Day to everyone out there.\u00a0\u00a0 I know we all thank God for those who\u2019ve made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. I can\u2019t help but have Ft. Hood and the memorial service on my mind today.\u00a0 I watched the moving ceremony as thousands of members of the Ft. Hood family gathered to say … Continue reading “Veteran’s Day: The Tale of Two Citizenships”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"series":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=935"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}