A few days ago we celebrated our nation’s 4th of July holiday. Normally we would cook out, go to a parade, and enjoy some fireworks. This year, though, feeling our age (especially the heat and humidity of Texas), we chose indoor activities with plenty of cool air. Time indoors gave me ample opportunity to see some historical dramas.
The films hit a chord with me. How quickly I forget what our founding fathers endured for the freedoms we enjoy today. A relatively small band of rag-tag militia faced the largest army and navy in the world. Great Britain’s King George III ruled an empire where “the sun never sets.” With great wealth, and protected by a powerful navy and army, our founding fathers faced a global power of the first order. We, on the other hand, held little equipment or formal training.
Let’s compare then to today:
- In 1776, our nation was composed of thirteen colonies with about 2.5 million people. Today, we are fifty states and fourteen territories with a population of more than 330 million.
- Our economy has grown to over $27 trillion.
- Our child mortality rate has fallen from over 45 percent to under 1 percent.
- Our citizens live over thirty-five years longer on average.
- Our scientific achievements have delivered the light bulb, modern flight, the internet, air conditioning, movies, the polio vaccine, and the list goes on.
- More than 2.7 million miles of power lines electrify the country.
- We have paved more than four million miles of roads.
- We have been responsible for more than eight hundred human visits to space—the most of any country.
The United States of America is unique and has a philosophical cause. Without the Constitution and the Union, we could not have attained the results we enjoy today. The principle of “liberty to all” is a principle that clears the path for all, gives hope to all, as well as enterprise and industry to all.
On May 17, 1981, then President Ronald Reagan gave the Commencement Address at the University of Notre Dame, where he noted:
“This Nation was born when a band of men, the Founding Fathers, a group so unique we’ve never seen their like since, rose to such selfless heights. Lawyers, tradesmen, merchants, farmers—fifty-six men achieved security and standing in life but valued freedom more. They pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Sixteen of them gave their lives. Most gave their fortunes. All preserved their sacred honor.
They gave us more than a nation. They brought to all mankind for the first time the concept that man was born free, that each of us has inalienable rights, ours by the grace of God, and that government was created by us for our convenience, having only the powers that we choose to give it.
A few years ago, someone figured out that if you could condense the entire history of life on Earth into a motion picture that would run for twenty-four hours a day, 365 days—maybe on leap years we could have an intermission—this idea that is the United States wouldn’t appear on the screen until 3½ seconds before midnight on December 31st. And in those 3½ seconds not only would a new concept of society come into being, a golden hope for all mankind, but more than half the activity, economic activity in world history, would take place on this continent.
Free to express their genius, individual Americans, men and women, in 3½ seconds, would perform such miracles of invention, construction, and production as the world had never seen.”
Genesis 1:27 tells us we are made in God’s image. We each have an inborn quest for the liberty our nation was birthed to secure. But, we humans are also fallen, and our freedoms, unconstrained by the word and Spirit of God, can lead us to ruin rather than prosperity. To be a nation God can bless, we must be a people who seek the blessing of God (Psalm 33:12).
We live in chaotic and tumultuous times. As a result, to know Christ and make Him known is not only a mantra for our time, it is surely the most patriotic way we can serve our nation.
God bless America!
Debby Efurd is co-founder of Cary John Efurd Ministries of Pittsburg, TX. She has been a contributor to Bound for Life and written numerous articles published in LifeNews, Christian Post and the Baptist Standard, and is the author of Go Tell It! Debby can be contacted at caryjohnefurdministries@gmail.com.
Tagged: American history, scripture
