The world is watching. How will America survive? It will survive by setting its course to the founding wisdom and values that made it remarkable. To the foundational truths of God’s Word.
This week, the USA celebrates its birth. The Fourth of July is a tremendous holiday to thank God for His sovereign blessing on America. This nation was founded on mutual respect, honor, the dignity of mankind, hard work, brotherhood and the Word of God.
Thomas Jefferson said, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” We must be men of diligent faith and deliberate focus.
Patrick Henry, one of America’s founding heroes and statesmen, famously said, “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!”
But Henry also declared this, “It cannot be emphasized too often or too strongly that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."
It was a Christian core value that made its way into the Declaration of Independence when Jefferson wrote, "that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…"
This was truly a revolutionary ideal. While many had said it before, going back to the Romans in 300AD, it had never actually been lived out in law and in culture.
I’m blessed to have been born in this nation. I love America. From the rugged oceans of Northern California to the majestic mountains of Montana, from the Freedom Trail in Boston to the battlegrounds of the Civil War. From the Florida Keys to the plains of Iowa to the hill country of Texas. Small town football, inner city soccer camps, baseball little leagues … the blues festivals in Chicago and the food of New Orleans … I love it all.
The strength of America is not based on economic prowess or military might – the true strength of America is based on its generosity and established in virtue.
Generosity is always the product of love, and love comes from men and women who are willing to follow truth. Truth isn’t a philosophy – truth is a person – Jesus Christ.
That is the foundational rock that will keep America strong – and the rejection of that foundation will hasten its decline.
I believe the best days of the Church are in front of us. I believe the world can be a better place. I believe that when men are reconciled to the Christ of the cross they will be reconciled to their brothers.
I believe this because our CMN brothers are men of hope. Hope is alive, Hope has a name - Hope's name is Jesus.
May God bless our brothers in every nation of the world, and may God bless America.
Paul Louis Cole
