Independence Day Thoughts

Picnics and fireworks are being enjoyed all around our nation today. It is a time to not only celebrate but to remember the reason for Independence Day. Declaring an end to lack of representation and oppression from British rule, our forefathers acknowledged they were just beginning the fight for freedom. As we reflect on the reliance the founding fathers had upon God, the contrast in our nation today is astounding. It seems as if every week there is a court case arguing values contrary to our beliefs or an activist group trying to prevent the use of God's name. Perhaps the time is coming to declare independence again, this time from the suppression and intolerance of our great God in our nation.

"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." - Deuteronomy 30:15-20