The 250th birthday of America this week brings back the bitter childhood memory of being prevented from celebrating the Bicentennial 4th of July by lighting off a few sparklers, smoke bombs, fountains, & twirlers. I’m still scarred by that parental denial of my American rights!
A better memory from that year is the thrill of seeing the fabled Liberty Bell, which rang out for freedom on the 4th of July 200 years earlier. I saw the words of Leviticus 25:10 inscribed on it: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” I brought home a souvenir Liberty Bell to display in my bedroom, which already was decorated with patriotic curtains & bedspread. I also displayed on my walls facsimile souvenirs of the Declaration of Independence & the Constitution.
Wearing my souvenir tri-cornered Minuteman hat, I marvelled at historic Independence Hall where the Declaration was signed, containing the revolutionary words: “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.”
I wish I could still feel as naively patriotic today as I did then. Yet even now, despite all the failings of our political system, I’m deeply appreciative of America’s rooting in Christian principles, & still feel very privileged to live here. Much of the world would trade anything to experience all the ways God has blessed this nation. We’re among the 1% of all who have ever lived to enjoy freedom of speech & religion because “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:17).
But this freedom is typically misunderstood & taken to destructive extremes. Unfortunately, many see freedom merely as the absence of restraint. But freedom without boundaries leads to anarchy & bondage. Freedom is like a beautifully woven fabric. Without a strong border to hold it together, it soon frays, unravels, & loses its value. Those who want God removed from every aspect of public life aren’t promoting freedom. The countries that have tried abolishing God are the same ones ruled by atheistic dictators. To kick out God is to kick out the foundation from under the building.
Thomas Jefferson, who penned the Declaration, valued biblical teaching (though he denied miracles), & said, “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever.” America was not formed as a nation apart from God, but under God. The idea of a secular state was unthinkable to the Founding Fathers.
So whenever America expels God from the public square, those foundational rights to life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness are twisted to mean something wholly unknown to those who first signed their “John Hancocks” to that document. The right to life was stripped away when abortion was legalized. Though that terrible Supreme Court decision has been reversed, the culture of death it unleashed remains strong, reshaping our nation’s conscience, leading to continuing child sacrifice in the womb, further violence, assisted suicide, & erosion of respect for the sanctity of human life. But in Christ we find newness of life–abundant & eternal (Rom. 6:4, John 10:10, 5:24).
The right to liberty was never meant to be a declaration of independence from God. God’s grace does free us from the legalism of trying to please Him through our own efforts of works-righteousness & the tyranny of self-imposed rules. But His grace doesn’t lead us to be “libertines” who take His grace as a pass to do whatever we want morally. We recognize that laws are necessary in our nation to maintain freedom. Just so, we submit to Christ’s laws in the New Testament in order to maintain our freedom from the sinful passions that enslave us (Rom. 6:18, Gal. 5:1). Jesus declared: “…You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. …So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:32, 36). Claiming that God’s grace eliminates any obligation to pursue holiness is the opposite of freedom–it leads to further bondage. Freedom is living as God intended (1 Pet. 2:16).
The right to pursue happiness includes freedom to pursue profitable work, property, & material goods. Yet the world goes all out to convince us that we always need more to be happy–it’s the driving force of advertising. God has blessed America with great prosperity, but instead of finding happiness, people seem more anxious, depressed, & dissatisfied than ever. Pursuing hedonistic pleasures doesn’t work either. They’ve tried everything, but are still unfulfilled.
But we know that there’s more to life than temporary treasures & momentary pleasures. It’s not based on a condition of getting everything you want, but finding contentment in what God has provided (1 Tim. 6:6-8, Heb. 13:5). Only in Christ do we find a joy that goes beyond happiness. He helps us to stop pursuing the wrong things.
May God bless America & continue to shed His grace on the land of the free. But until people come to Christ, they’ll never really understand true freedom. It’s only through Him that we obtain a new life, experience a new liberty, & pursue a new kind of happiness.