As we look forward to celebrating Independence Day, I have always felt that God’s people should be the best citizens of all. After all, we are called to give a witness of how one’s life is to be lived. How blessed we are to be in a country that still allows and celebrates so many freedoms.
This holiday also invites us to reflect on an even greater freedom—the freedom we have through Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul reminds us, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1). This freedom is not simply the ability to do as we please, but the opportunity to love God wholeheartedly and be free to be the person God created you to be.
As fireworks light the sky and watermelon and hot dogs are the menu of the day, let us pause to pray for our country, its leaders, its hopes and dreams. That one day we might truly be “one nation under God” and that we will honor and respect all citizens as children of God and our brothers and sisters. On the 250th anniversary of its founding, may the best days be all before us and may we each take responsibility for being shapers of that dream.
Brave Journey,
Bill
