President Trump’s “new American moment”: 3 biblical responses

President Trump delivered his first State of the Union address last night. The president described this time in our history as a “new American moment” and added, “There has never been a better time to start living the American dream.”

The purpose of my article today is to offer not political analysis but a biblical response. The president stated, “We know that faith and family, not government and bureaucracy, are the center of the American life. Our motto is ‘in God we trust.’”

How can we make our motto our daily reality?

If I could offer a Spiritual State of the Union to our country, I would point to Psalm 30 and three principles that teach us how to maximize this moment in our history.

Live in the present for the eternal.

The president focused on achievements his administration has made in its first year. He pointed to car companies that are “now building and expanding plants in the United States,” the approval of more new and generic drugs, and the liberation of nearly all the territory once held by the Islamic State.

Of course, it is a president’s job to focus on temporal prosperity for the nation he leads. But Scripture consistently calls us to live in the present moment for the sake of eternity.

David testified that God’s “anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5). Today is the time before time shall be no more.

One of the youth camps at my last pastorate took as its theme “The Dash,” pointing to the hyphen on your gravestone between your birth and your death. The point was that we need to live every day in light of eternity. When you are in heaven, how will you wish you had lived this day on earth?

America will maximize the present moment to the degree that we seek eternal significance.

Know that your prosperity depends on God’s provision.

The president noted that the economy has created 2.4 million new jobs this…