Patriotism: What Does it Mean?

Patriotism: What Does It Mean? 

Stariana W. 

Patriotism is a hard word to define. It means to love and honor one’s country. What does that mean? Well, to me the word patriotism is the door to a whole other world. I know that sounds strange, but let me explain. 

To me, the word patriotism means to help build my country into the best it can be. With all the hatred and evil in the world, what can we do to help our countries become great?  We cannot do a lot of things, so what makes us think we can help our country? Here is why I think we can. 

It all starts with prayer. Why? Because God says He will help our countries if we pray. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14, KJV) What can we pray for? We can pray for those in power, such as our president, prime minister and so on.  We can also pray for God’s will, all that is godly and acceptable in God’s eyes, to be done in our country. 

What else can we do? We can pray for God to raise up godly men and women to bring the much-needed revivals. We are back to prayer again, are we not? Is there anything else we can do? Yes, but prayer is one of the most important things to do.   

We can also help by shaping the young men. What? What did I just say? I did not just say shape young men, did I? Actually, yes, I did. Women can build or tear a guy down. We need to let the guys know that we see in them more possibilities than they see. We need to treat them like the men we see possible instead of what they are like at the moment. We need to encourage them to do what is right and thank them for taking courageous stands. I know this is hard to do sometimes, but it is very important. 

We should also be knowledgeable about our countries’ politics and affairs. How does that help us? Then we know more specifically what to pray for! If we know what is going on, we can pray for specific issues that are not good for our countries. It will also help us when we are old enough to vote. We can make informed decisions that are more of God’s will. 

What does patriotism mean to you? That I cannot answer. It is up to you to define patriotism to mean something much more that what the dictionary says. Is it better than my definition? That I would not doubt. We should help influence our countries with our actions and prayers.