Every Fourth of July we celebrate the independence of America. This year our country will be 247 years old…not so old when we consider the age of the world itself. In the beginning, our country was proud to celebrate and declare its newfound freedom. People came from other oppressed countries across the world to share and enjoy it as well, and the country began to grow and flourish. As a baby, America grew and honored those who fought so hard to see this country thrive. Above all, the American people thanked and honored the one God from whom they knew this freedom came.
We could say that as our country entered its second hundred years… the teenage phase…it began to question the old ways and entered what we now refer to as ‘the roaring 20’s.’ With each generation, this idea of change…discreetly called ‘progress’, became more powerful and our old-fashioned ways gave way to new more modern ideas. Through all these changes, one thing remained strong. Our faith in God and the power of prayer had seen us through so many trials and tribulations: Two World Wars and many smaller ones had only made our faith stronger and kept our hopes for better times alive.
Then came the sixties and seventies and more change brought more greed, drugs, and prosperity.
I’m not sure what phase we are in today…maybe a mid-life crisis? We see more and more people turning away from God and our churches losing members every day. With the new millennium came many more changes. Today it is not uncommon to hear a young person putting our country down and claiming America is no longer a great place to be. With talk of open borders, a New World Order, and other non-sense: riots in our streets, school shootings, political unrest…how can our kids feel safe and like they are in the best of places right now?
On July Fourth we celebrate our freedom as a country, but true freedom has to come to each of us individually…freedom from the power of sin…which can only be found by placing our faith in the one and only God: Jesus Christ.
We older people like to look back and bask in how things used to be. We remember times when God, family and working hard was more important than anything else. The goal of the church back then was not to fill the pews so much, but to change the hearts of people who are hurting and searching to find their purpose for living. That purpose will not be found in relationships, drugs or alcohol, but by the power of faith in God.
Many times, Jesus told people, “Your faith has made you whole.” He also said in John 8:32 “The truth shall make you free.”
The freedom we must seek for people today is the freedom from sin we all find once we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Happy Independence Day!