June 29: SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY

I’m going to sound a little blind and naïve as I start this but don’t stop reading. In recent memory, have you ever known of a time when so many people were shackled by war and hate and fear and political upheaval? What other time can compare to “man’s inhumanity to man” that is seen on such an international scale?
When the Iron Curtain and Bamboo Curtain and other curtains came down around the world, many of us thought it was the dawning of a new day of freedom for people to express themselves. All it seems to have done was unleash long-chained hatreds that had not been allowed to be expressed by oppressive governments. So we look with horror at the lack of freedom around the world and thank God for America, our “sweet land of liberty”. We have it better, don’t we?
Government leadership changes hands here without bloodshed, government policies change without revolution, and a man can still go from the log cabin to the White House. Yet, we have many citizens who do not drink from the cup of freedom. Many are still entrapped by poverty, prejudice, discrimination, ignorance, old age, and infirmity. This should be a call to arms. All of us who enjoy the fruits of our social system should take up moral arms to do battle against these evil forces.
Every Christian who can say with Paul “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5;1) should join this cause. He even warns the Christians in that same chapter “do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature.” The sinful nature is selfish and self-centered.
Let freedom ring from your house if you have been set free by Jesus. It was spiritual freedom that formed the basis for the Pilgrim’s founding this nation. Spiritual freedom makes other freedoms possible.

“How sweet it is to live in this land of liberty! Give us a new sense of
gratitude, beginning right now, for this gift You have given America. Amen”