Let's just get this out there – Colin Kaepernick could have chosen a more effective means of protest than sitting down during the national anthem at a football game.

But why is the American church so riled up?

When I came to the United States in 2008, it was evident that Americans loved their country. Holidays that celebrated America and its people, like Independence Day, Veterans Day, and Memorial Day, were proof of people's undying devotion to the "Land of the Free." Where I'm from (the Philippines), we celebrate our country just as much. Colorful festivals, international sporting victories, and celebrity attention made us proud to be Filipinos.

Then I started going to church and would hear pastors talk about how great the United States of America is. Growing up, I've never heard a pastor praise a country and preach a sermon about it to the extent that American preachers do.

I've been in the United States for eight years. I love this country and the opportunities it has given me to graduate from college, find a good community and explore the different states. But I'm also a globetrotter– I grew up traveling around the world because of my mother's occupation. I have had the privilege of living in different countries, learning their languages, and being immersed in cultures that were different from my own. In fact, it was at a Christian collegiate conference where I discovered my calling to missions and my heart is set on traveling the world one day.

Culture, for me, has always come second to the Gospel that is inclusive to all people, races, ethnicities, and walks of life.

Why, then, are American Christians around the nation so angry at this one dude who chose to sit when it was his right to do so? Why do we feel so personally offended by his actions?

Let me even bring up other questions: Why are we so angry at people who want to reach out to refugees from the Middle East and Europe coming into the country? Why are we so against immigration reform and making an easier path for people who want to start a fresh life in a country they hope to find freedom in?

Why are we so offended by people who are different from us? Why do we fear their different beliefs, values, and cultures instead of seeking to understand them and being a light to them?

Why are American Christians so obsessed with America? Aren't we first and foremost Christians?

Thankfully, this dilemma is not new to this generation of believers. In fact, the early Church wrestled with how they were to bring together the Jewish and Gentile believers in the first century. They had disputes about Gentile Christians following Jewish traditions (Galatians 2) and breakthroughs regarding racial divides between believers (Acts 10).

Peter finally understood what Jesus had meant by dying "for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2)" when he said in Acts 10:34, "Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him."

Jesus Himself crossed ethnic divides by reaching out to the Samaritan woman at the well and by praising a Roman centurion whom "with no one in Israel have I found such faith. (Matthew 8:10)" He led the way for Christians to show compassion to people who feel marginalized and ostracized by the community.

Sure, that centurion has probably killed many men and although many Jews held him in esteem, he may have been viewed with scorn at some point. That woman was an adulterer who had five husbands and was not married to her current partner.

The point is, instead of being angry and apathetic to the struggles and hurts that people experience due to racial and cultural conflict, Christians are called to be known by their love, "for love is from God. (1 John 4:7)"

We cannot be stuck in blind patriotism, waving the flag while ignoring our brothers and sisters who suffer from any kind of racial oppression. We cannot say racism doesn't exist when we preach from the pulpits and in our own lives that their fear of being an outcast is unwarranted for.

I love this quote from a sermon by John Piper, where he said, "When God saves sinners and builds his church by passing over many of the ethnically privileged and calling to himself many of the ethnic outcasts, he makes plain that he will not base his blessing on race or ethnicity. He is going to save people in a way that breaks the pride of the privileged and overcomes the despair of the outcast. Ethnic envy and ethnic arrogance are excluded. Indeed we will see in a moment that God is aggressive in his pursuit of ethnic diversity in the church. And we should be too."

I understand that we may fear for our children's future with all the cultural chaos that is happening. We may fear the extreme practices of different religions and nations. We may fear that the next generation will be brainwashed to hold values that are different from what we hold true in the Bible.

That's where we can step in and become influencers in this world. The beauty of the Gospel is that it calls us to places and to people who desperately need it – to your crime-ridden neighborhood, to the struggling drug-addicted couple across the street, to the Muslim student in your school, and even to the angry, conservative-hating Democrat next door. We are not called to conform, but to be unleashed for God's Kingdom.

However, I want to challenge you, Christians, to even think beyond your town, city, and country. Think globally. Even though America may be a land of flowing milk and honey for you, for others it's just another country on the face of this planet. The American flag is just like any other country's flag.

Yes, we should respect this nation, our government, and the people who fought for the freedom we have today. The Bible does command that we conduct ourselves as good citizens and approach all civil life with honor (1 Peter 2:11-17). However, I don't think this gives us a pass to throw a fit when someone decides to sit down during the national anthem or speak against the racial conflicts they see happening across the nation.

The Gospel respects no nation because it opens up salvation through no one's merit but Christ's. Dare I say that Gospel even tramples on the American flag because it declares Jesus above any great nation. Even Israel, God's chosen nation, was eventually brought down by other nations. He knew that the world needed Him more than their desire for greatness.

Guess what? So does the United States of America.