The United States of America celebrates its 250th birthday this week.

Americans can be proud of our heritage. America claims the largest economy on the planet. Though China’s population is much larger, China’s Gross Domestic Product is only 2/3 that of the U.S., leaving the Chinese a distant second. But Americans haven’t been selfish with the wealth; the U.S. is also the world’s most benevolent country, giving away more wealth than any other nation. Because of the U.S.A., the world doesn’t speak German or Japanese, and Israel is a sovereign state. Young people from around the globe attend America’s universities and America’s doctors, researchers, and pharmaceutical companies impact the health of the entire world. American ingenuity has given the world electricity, telephones, movies and the moon. American forces man the front lines against terrorism, making the world safer and more stable.

Despite America’s illustrious past, caution must be exercised. Proverbs 16:18 (NIV) warns “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Let’s remember that Israel was once, under Kings David and Solomon, the most powerful nation on earth. But as Solomon celebrated the dedication of the Temple, God warned Israel against religious and moral complacency. 2 Chronicles 7:19-22 reads, “But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD…that is why he brought all this disaster on them.”

Religion, specifically Christianity, strongly shaped America’s early years. Back in 1835, Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville wrote Democracy in America to try to explain to the world why the United States was different. “Religion,” he wrote, “which never intervenes directly in the government of American society, should…be considered the first of their political institutions.” John Adams, one of the leading thinkers in the early days of our country warned, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Another one of the Founding Fathers, Dr. Benjamin Rush, wrote, “the only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments…Such is my veneration for every religion that reveals the attributes of the Deity, or a future state of rewards and punishments, that I had rather see the opinions of Confucius or Mahomed inculcated upon our youth, than to see them grow up wholly devoid of a system of religious principles. But the religion I mean to recommend in this place is that of the New Testament.”

So, strange as it may sound, America’s future depends on resident aliens — not the people who immigrate from other nations, but the people the Apostle Peter describes in 1 Peter 2:11 – “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God…”

America’s future won’t be shaped by politicians, it will be shaped by the morals and values of those who vote for them. It’s not the economy, stupid. It matters whether leaders have their own sexual impulses under control. Issues like abortion, euthanasia, racism, materialism, and immigration should be addressed by moral thinkers, not just by those seeking the approval of the majority. Christians must carry their convictions, not merely their wallets, into the voting booth and they must live out God’s values in their businesses, communities and homes. On June 2, 1778, John Adams wrote in his private diary: “The foundation of national morality must be laid in private families.” John Adams understood the needs of his time.

Do we?