It’s fitting that Americans are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence: the freedom vision undergirding our nation’s founding is rich and profound.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This statement reflects a worldview in which all people are recognized as having been created by God and given a dignity by God as creatures formed in his image. And this identity is the basis for a right to life, freedom, and flourishing.
Of course, it’s challenging living up to these ideals—and accordingly it’s not hard to think of ways to pray for our country: *Give thanks for our freedom footings. *Ask the Lord to help us view each other (and people everywhere) as having this same dignity. *Call on God to lead all who trust in Jesus to pursue the good of neighbors.
On this momentous national occasion, I’m moved to give thanks for the privilege of living in the USA! It’s not a perfect country, but there is so much to like—and so much for which to be grateful.
But we won’t be the best American neighbors we can be if our joy and thanks and zeal are focused on national greatness. In Christ we have something much more grand to cherish for ourselves and to share with fellow citizens. We have true life, eternal life. We have true liberty, eternal liberty. And as a result, we are on a pathway into everlasting, never-failing, soul-thrilling happiness in the radiant and all-satisfying presence of our Savior, Jesus Christ!
So let’s think big, and ask God to help us be the kind of Americans who, most of all, live for the honor of Christ, the King of Kings (Revelation 19:16); and the kind of neighbors who serve others by pointing them to the One who loves them and is ready to save them (John 3:16). Eternity is on the line here in this life we live today (John 3:36), so let’s broadcast Jesus’ offer of everlasting life!
