Faith Through the Journey

Many Americans today are distressed as we look at our country and see that it isn’t at all the America we grew up in not so many years ago. We wonder when and how things began to be less than ideal and wish we could return to that idyllic time. How much worse can it get? What kind of country will our grandchildren grow up in? Will it look anything like the America the founders envisioned 236 years ago when they signed the Declaration of Independence? Those men believed in their dream so strongly that they pledged their lives and fortunes in sacrifice so that this country might not be reabsorbed by a tyrannical government who wanted to interfere in every area of their lives.

I’m sorry to say that that kind of dedication and sacrifice is nearly nonexistent in today’s world where we seem to give up more of our freedom every day so that our lives can be easier and we don’t have to do or even think for ourselves. Those who would like to control every aspect of our lives are eager to take advantage of our laziness and make decisions for us about everything in our lives. We are told which foods we should and should not eat, what kind of car we should drive, how much of our own money we have to surrender to the government, and more alarmingly, how and when we may worship God and exercise our religious freedom. How can we possibly sit back and let this happen?

The battle of good vs. evil has been around since the Garden of Eden when Satan tempted Eve. Evil will always seek to control, to enslave, at every opportunity. Good will seek to free its objects, wanting the best for them and allowing them to become whatever they wish to be. The problem with this age-old battle is that evil is often disguised as “good” and its poor objects don’t realize that it has taken over until they are no longer able to exercise the “good” freedom they thought they were embracing.

In America, we have been led to believe that our lives will be easier if we allow others to make our decisions, that we will then be “free” to spend our time doing what we want to do. The sad lie of our day is that the more we allow others to make decisions for us, the less “freedom” we have to live our lives the way we want to. American Christians, many of them, have bought this lie as well. We want the same kind of convenience and ease as our neighbors who have no “religious beliefs”. Unfortunately, because we DO serve the God of the Universe, our responsibility is greater because we do not place our faith in man’s remedies but in God’s Word…or at least we are supposed to. The thing about doing things God’s way is that we will often be swimming against the current of popular opinion, and that can be hard. We are not the first people who are asked to obey God’s Word even when it isn’t popular, and it’s never fun to try to go against the grain of popular thought. Moses had trouble with the children of Israel as he was trying to lead them in the wilderness, as they fought him whenever life became uncomfortable for them. Moses cried out to God about the unfairness of their situation, and He answered. Psalm 106:15 says: “So He gave them what they asked for, but sent leanness to their souls, (also translated as a wasting disease).” That may be where the idea of “being careful what you wish for” came to be. The American church has, by and large, asked God for comfort and ease and He has granted that request at the cost of “lean souls” and “wasting disease”. His people look so much like the rest of the world that they blend in and no longer make a positive difference by doing what’s right instead of what’s easy. What a price to pay! Our country is at great risk of losing much of what has made us exceptional. We can’t afford to continue allowing men and women who don’t understand that the greatness of America rests in its goodness to make the monumental decisions that affect the existence of our great country.

It’s time for the American Church to stand up and be counted. Will we continue to choose a life that goes along with the rest of the world and its values that run contrary to God’s Word, or will we be courageous in the same way our Founding Fathers were, and, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, “In matters of principle, stand like a rock”? We can never fully understand their sacrifice, but we can honor it by standing up ourselves for the values and ideals they held so dear.

Visiting French diplomat Alexis de Tocqueville wrote during an American visit in 1886, trying to discover the secret of America’s success: “But I sought everywhere in vain for the secret of their success, until I entered the church. It was there as I listened to the soul-equalizing and soul-elevating principles of the Gospel of Christ, as they fell from Sabbath to Sabbath upon the masses of the people, that I learned why America was great and free.”