That phrase “worse than an infidel” (1 Timothy 5:8 KJV) has always been a heavy piece of the Bible for me. Here is something to be taken seriously. Celebrating the Fourth of July is all about liberty and the cost of obtaining it and makes it especially relevant. There are so many attacks on freedom today. Well-intentioned but misguided politicians will set off attacks on our households in their speeches.
That whole verse reads, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Timothy 5:8 NIV) Freedom and democracy need to be defended as well as proclaimed. We do not need to be party to wars of aggression but warring to defend our family’s freedom is a responsibility. This is why Separation of Church and State needs to be defended, not attacked and belittled. It is a part of freedom.
The right to choose one’s own religion and worship God according to the dictates of one’s conscience is a precious freedom. God does not need government approval; He already owns man.
To take money from unbelievers to support the work of believers is unfair and unnecessary. Anything that God wants to accomplish, He is able to pay the tab.
I am proud to be a part of this heritage of freedom. Here in this Commonwealth of Virginia, for example, more Baptist ministers were jailed, fined, and horse-whipped than in any other State. As David said in Psalm 16:6, “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.”
What a terrible thing I would be doing to my children and grandchildren if I did not defend, in my generation, their future right to worship the Lord freely, without government interference.
“God of all freedom, remind us tomorrow that liberty is free but it is not
cheap. Thank You for all who made the supreme sacrifice to keep us free. Amen”
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