Happy Birthday, America! We are celebrating 249 years this week, and I wish you many more. I love our nation. But I still have something I want to say . . . that as a pastor I need to say.
Our President wants to make America great.
His slogan—Make America Great Again—clearly caught the attention of the American people. He won two presidential elections and nearly a third.
I don’t disagree with that sentiment, but I would be much more enthused if America just decided to be a good nation—good in a Biblical sense: I want us to be a righteous and moral and generous nation with integrity—good in God’s eyes.
It’s okay to have a great military, a great economy, great laws, and to be great in other ways, But I care more deeply about our character. If we are truly good, God will take care of us. That’s the promise of Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Here are some things we must do if we want to be a good nation:
We must elect better leaders. We need leaders who are honest, have integrity, and treat people and nations with respect and dignity. They must have a long-term pattern of integrity in their family life, business life, and personal life. We have ignored Biblical teaching on the character of a leader. Proverbs 20:28 says, “Love and faithfulness keep a king safe; through love his throne is made secure.” Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.
We need to take better care of the poor. We are wealthy—if we look only at the upper class. Our richest 10% hold two-thirds of America’s wealth; our poorest 50% less than 4%. Our richest 1% have an income 139 times as much as the lowest 20%. The disparity between the upper class and lower class is growing rapidly. We need to rethink our economy, tax laws, minimum wage, and educational opportunities. Deuteronomy 24:14 says, “Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.” Proverbs 14:31 says, “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”
We need to take better care of our land. We live in a beautiful land, but for years we have drilled, built, dug, pumped, consumed, burned, trapped, disposed, wasted, killed, and dumped without a real plan for the sustainability of clean air, plentiful water, healthy wildlife, and pristine natural places. God created the Earth in beauty; it’s our job to keep it that way. The prophets spoke strongly against those who defiled the land. Jeremiah (in 2:7) called out those who defiled the land, “I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.”
We need to take better care of immigrants. We have forgotten that all of us are immigrants. Some came against their will; most came searching for a better life. All people—citizens or not—deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. Leviticus 19:33-34 says, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
We need to destroy racism. We have made strides, but the impact of yesterday’s racism and today’s continuing racism is clear. The median income of black families is 33% less than that of white families. If we believe in equality, our laws, attitudes, and results should reflect it. Instead, we are turning away from laws and programs designed to build full equality. The Bible is clear, as in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
We need to rehabilitate prisoners. It’s rarely talked about. The United States has only about 5% of the world’s population but over 20% of the world’s incarcerated. We have not done a good job in preventing prison, helping those in prison, rehabilitating prisoners, or providing opportunities when they’re released. Psalm 146:6-8 describes God, “He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—he remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous.” Consistently, both Testaments teach compassion for those in prison.
We need to take better care of children. Children are often abused and widely neglected. Our system of education is not as horrid as some claim (at least in comparison with other countries) but the trend is not encouraging. Costs to go to college—or get technical training—are rising much faster than inflation, making decent career choices hard to come by. Over 13% of America’s children are living below the poverty line—a huge increase from 2021 when the rate was only 5.2%. If children are the future of America—and they are—we must do better if we want to be a good nation.
We need to take better care of our finances. For all my voting life, politicians have promised to reduce debt. They forget it when they are elected. In 1976 (my first election), our debt was $620 billion. In 2025, as I write this blog, it is $36.22 trillion—and increasing rapidly. Both parties are responsible—it has increased under both Republican and Democratic administrations. (Do you know the last presidential administration who reduced the national debt? It was . . . Calvin Coolidge.) We are leaving a horrible burden on our children and grandchildren. Proverbs 13:22 says, “A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children . . .” It is not good to leave our children and their children with terrible debt.
We need to help poor countries. The trend today is for us to pull back our help for the hungry, for the hurting, for the refugees, for children in need of vaccination, for those hurt in wars, and for those with crippling diseases. I believe that nations as well as individual believers need to pay attention to the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:35-36, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
I could go on, for there are many more issues that indicate to me that we are not good—not in the Biblical sense, at least.
I’m not complaining as an outsider. I love the United States of America. I read her history. I travel throughout her land. I stay up-to-date on the issues of our day. I pray for our country and our leaders. I thank God for His blessings on us.
But my greatest prayer as we approach our 250th birthday is that God will lead us to be good. I will let others worry about our greatness.
Let’s make America good!