My Thoughts on Politics

I normally try to avoid talking about politics at all costs. Not because I don't know what I believe or that I don't know how to defend what I believe, but mainly because I want to avoid the arguments that ensue from stating those beliefs.
With all the talk about gun control, the recent anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and the terrible awful that happened to Louie Giglio, I've found myself more tempted to tread the dangerous waters of commenting on friends' political statuses/retweeting political tweets, but I can't even bring myself to go there. I don't want to be one of "those" people.
The thing is, I'm not that passionate about politics. Please don't read that as "I hate America." I don't. America's great and I know there are freedoms I have that I don't even realize other countries don't have. But politics frustrate me. Let me rephrase that: people who constantly talk about politics, whether it's about what is going right or what is going wrong, frustrate me.
I get it; people are proud to be Americans. And there's nothing wrong with that. Unless it causes an individual to be an American first and foremost, and a Christian second.
I feel like I see so much of this: "Gun control is going to ruin this country." "If you take away our right to bear arms, you might as well take away our right to free speech." "We might have a doctor to cure cancer, or a president to lead our country rightly, but we probably aborted them." "Our country is so fallen that we can't even allow a man who doesn't believe in gay marriage to pray at the inauguration."
I don't mean to take any of these issues lightly, but my question is this: Where is Christ in any of that?
If you recall, the Bible says nothing about Americans, nor the rights they possess. In fact, it appears to me, that the Bible does not refer to any earthly rights of Christians. Quite the opposite, actually.

• "You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.” Matthew 5:10 (MSG)
• “It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.” Acts 14:22.
• “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.” John 15:18-20 NIV
• “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” 2 Timothy 3:12 NIV

Any freedom we have in this country is a privilege. A blessing that we do not deserve. And if we are more passionate about these blessings than we are about spreading the gospel, there is something incredibly wrong in our hearts. And I daresay, if/when, at some point, we lose these blessings, it is not the persecution Scripture speaks of; it's simply that we're not getting something that we want and think we deserve.

We are called to do one thing as Christians, and it is not to fight for our American rights. We are called to spread the gospel. And here's the kicker: if we spread the gospel as we are called to do, things are more likely to change in our country. Everything that goes wrong in America is simply a symptom of one underlying illness: the depravity of lost hearts. No matter how many petitions we sign, how many hours we hold signs outside of abortion clinics, or how many Facebook statuses we post about the travesty that happened to Louie Giglio, nothing will change in this country until we seek to change the hearts of the individuals around us. We have got to stop seeing the downfall of our country as something that's happening to us, and start seeing it as a reason to go out and tell the world of the great salvation they're missing out on!
Until people are redeemed, they will never act as if they've been redeemed, and we've got to stop expecting them to. We should not be surprised, nor offended, that Louie Giglio was uninvited to pray at President Obama's inauguration; instead, we should rejoice that he was counted worthy to be rejected as Christ was. This is what we are told would happen if we are Christlike. And if it's not happening to us as individuals, we must ask ourselves what we are doing wrong.
I'm not saying things will get better. I'm not saying our country will turn from wicked ways toward godliness. What I am saying is that it definitely won't if we don't answer our call to preach the gospel.
When hearts change, everything will change.