On July 4th, America celebrated her 250th anniversary of her declared independence from the rule of King George III of England in 1776. Our independence was hard fought and won over a war with Great Britan. In the decades and centuries that followed America fought growing pains as she expanded from thirteen original colonies westward into the unknown regions of the Midwest, Great Plains, Rockies, Southwest, the frozen wonder of Alaska and the paradise of Hawaii.
We fought Indians, the name given to the Native Americans by Christopher Columbus who mistakenly thought he had reached the East Indies in Asia. We fought France and Spain. We fought England again. And we fought ourselves in the ugly scar of slavery and the rights of the states. Every skirmish, battle, and war, taught us to fight a little harder, to stand a little taller. We fought for our freedom, and we weren’t about to lose it. We fought for our land, and we weren’t going to give an inch back. And we didn’t.
We tried to stay out of world conflict and fights that weren’t ours. George Washington was adamant that these United States stay out of world affairs. Yet we found ourselves drawn into two World Wars. Then it was a slippery slope into Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and others. America was a dominating world power, and we had great leaders who meant what they said and had a country who backed them up. We had a military who went in and got the job done whatever, whenever and wherever it was.
Something changed somewhere along the way. We lost our focus. We let the minority affect the majority. Somehow right became wrong and wrong became right. We became divided. The last thirty years have brought a change in this great nation. And it is not good.
I can’t say with certainty where it began. Maybe when we removed the Ten Commandments from our schools. Or told our children we could not pray before lunch. We have the freedom to practice religion or no religion at all. Many early settlers came here with the hope to worship God as they wished, but they all worshipped God. Those early settlers wanted to worship the way they believed without the fear of state persecution from the Catholic Church or Church of England. So, they came. Puritan, Anabaptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Catholic and others. The one thing they had in common was that they worshipped God. The difference was in the method of their worship.
Now here we are two hundred and fifty years later and while we have not lost any physical ground, much of our moral and spiritual ground has been lost. The morality of our country has been lost to ideals our founding fathers never considered. While it is true they were not saints, what has been done in the name of freedom would have no doubt sickened them. As it should us today. We have groups showing pride for things that are shameful. Children are targets for another’s perversion. And we mock God for His creating us male and female by creating genders that do not exist.
Spiritually, it isn’t much better. Some of the same individuals I mentioned are leaders in our churches. We use God’s love as an escape for our sin and forget his love is balanced by His judgment. In the name of freedom of religion, we allow religions to enter our country who hate our way of life and would destroy us. We preach grace and forgiveness and neglect repentance and holiness.
It is time for change, and it is time for it to begin with us. I have examined my country, but if you are reading this from a distant shore, is your heritage much different? What is your moral and spiritual heritage? I am not talking about politics. I am talking about right and wrong. Not philosophy. What does the Bible say about these things? I am not here to offend, but to call us all to consider our ways. To bring our hearts back to God. We may not be in a position to change the course of our nation, but we might be able to affect our church, our community. Consider Psalm 33:12
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people He has chosen for His own inheritance. (NASB)
Of course, He has chosen Israel as His inheritance. But I do believe there is a blessing for any nation who makes God LORD. The nation who as one honors the Lord and seeks His blessing from its leader to the poorest person on the street. When we decide to take an honest look at ourselves and put our sin away from us, we change and we begin to affect others around us. We change the way we dress and the way we talk. We begin to honor God in the little ways and in the big ways. And it matters.
So, let’s celebrate our freedom and our liberty. Let’s begin by turning to God in repentance and surrender. While we have celebrated America’s Independence Day, it can be anyone’s day to celebrate what God has done in their life and what God might have prepared for their nation. Celebrate, pray, and seek the God who judges the nations and tell others of His wonderful deeds.
Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. Psalm 96: 3 NASB
All for One
Angela
