Yesterday, Saturday,
July 4th, 2015 we celebrated a notable date in our nation’s history. I
will admit, right up front, that I’m an unabashed patriot of my country and I
fully believe that it is the best place in this world in which to live. I
believe this is so because it was founded upon better principles than any of
the other nations that we share it with.
It’s a nation having a
society made up of just about all the people of this world. Yes, people
of all races and nationalities make up our citizenry. And, to throw in a
personal opinion here - I wish that we’d get rid of all the “hyphenated”
Americans and just be plain old Americans.
I read in the newspaper
the other day that a recent survey indicated that about 37 percent of our
citizens wouldn’t mind living in another country. That about floored
me. Yes, there are many other countries that would be a good place to
live, but I don’t think that I’d trade my citizenship here for anywhere else.
Have you ever considered
what a blessing it is to be an American citizen? This country by far,
leads all others in immigration figures. But, if you were born here, what
a great blessing that is. Did you know that Americans make up only 4.5 percent
of the world’s population? Looking at it from the opposite direction,
there is a 95.5 percent chance that you could have been born somewhere
else. Which country would you choose to be a natural-born citizen of than
here? Interesting thought, isn’t it?
Well, back to my initial
thought, yesterday was what we refer to as our Independence Day. The
reason it’s called that is because our most famous document, the Declaration of
Independence, was ratified and signed on July 4th, 1776. Here’s a little
historical fact for you - only two of the 56 signers of this document actually
signed it that day - John Hancock and Charles Thompson. All the rest
signed at a later date.
Sticking with history
for more information, yes, a bell-ringer was standing by to announce this most
momentous occasion if and when it was signed. When the news came that it
had been so ratified and signed, the news came to him and he rang it. One
more thing to keep in mind here, is that by affixing their names to this
document, they were, in essence, signing their own death warrant.
Oh yeah, let me give you
a little information regarding the bell itself. On that day, July 4,
1776, it was ”just a bell.” It wasn’t known as the “Liberty Bell” until
the 1830's when it was adopted as the symbol of the anti-slavery movement.
Another little piece of
information regarding the bell that flies in the face of what many believe
about it, it did not crack while being rung on that occasion. It had
already cracked and been repaired twice before this. It was last rung on
Washington’s birthday in 1846 and another deep crack developed and it was never
used after that.
When you do some study
of our early forefathers, especially those involved in the formation of our
nation and its documents, you’ll see that we had a close and stated
relationship with God. They “relied” on the “providence of God” in
setting forth this new nation and the laws which were to govern it. I
just wish that our country still had that close association with The Divine
today.
A lot of interesting
things and events have happened on July 4th since that day in 1776. Just
FYI, let me mention a few. On that day in 1884, we were presented with
the Statue of Liberty. On July 4th, 1826, exactly 50 years from the signing
of the Declaration of Independence, two of our greatest forefathers, Thomas
Jefferson and John Adams, passed into death. That most beautiful song,
“America The Beautiful” was published on July 4, 1895.
Yesterday was indeed a
great day. A great day upon which to reflect on how we became a truly
blessed nation and of the sacrifices that were made then to establish it and
the millions made since to keep it.
But, today, Sunday the
5th of July, is also a great day indeed. It’s The Lord’s Day and we have this
occasion every 7 days. It too, is a day in which we reflect on our
citizenship in the Kingdom of God. The greatest blessing in being
an American citizen is our Freedom. As great as that is, it cannot
compare to the freedom we have as citizens of God’s kingdom.
Our nation’s freedom
removed us from the tyranny of the King of England. The freedom we have
in God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, is that we’re removed from the tyranny
of sin. Freedom, in whatever degree we have as citizens in the world, can
be a temporary thing, can’t it? As is everything that’s part and parcel
of the earth.
What makes the freedom
we have in Christ indescribably better than earthly freedom is that it is
not temporary. It is a freedom that cannot be taken from us. (John
10:28) However, as indicated in the survey I mentioned at the
outset, we can renounce our citizenship from God’s kingdom but, when or if we
do, by default, we then become a citizen of Satan’s kingdom. It makes
little sense to me that a person would leave America for another country, but
it makes even less sense to me that someone would rather be a subject in
Satan’s hell than a citizen in God’s heaven.
In closing, and thinking
about our remembrance of our nation’s history and the sacrifices that brought
us freedom and keeps us free, let’s carry that over to the remembrance of the
sacrifice that bought us our eternal freedom. It was the sacrifice of
Christ on the cross that purchased this freedom (Acts 20:28).
In considering being
freed by Christ we’re talking about being freed from slavery to Satan and
sin. I particularly like what we find in Luke 4:18 where He says at the
outset of his ministry on earth, that He was “anointed”
(chosen) to “set at liberty
them that are bruised...” The Greek word translated as “bruised” means “broken-down”
or “oppressed.” Just as world affairs can break us down and oppress us,
sin does that same thing with everlasting results.
By His sacrifice, Jesus
brought into being the “kingdom,”
the “church” and
ratified it’s founding and sustaining document - “The Truth.”
“If ye continue in my
word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free.” John 8:31-32
Respectfully submitted,
Ron Covey
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