Independence Day

Tim Oakes
Jun 30, 2017
2 min read

Hello Friends,

When I think about the founding of our country, it’s a miracle that we exist as a nation at all. We were a colony of the richest, most powerful nation on earth at the time. All the odds seemed to be stacked against us. Yet we know that the seemingly improbable was possible.

We weren’t the first and probably won’t be the last nation to gain independence from a superior power. However, the ideas on which we were founded make us unique as a nation. Chief among these ideas is that man was created to be free, that our creator has bestowed upon all men the right to be free. Up until that time, citizens were treated as property of the rulers and were forced to do their bidding. In contrast, our forefathers believed that each individual should have the right to seek their own destiny. And because of that principle, they were able to fulfill their dreams and bless our nation and the entire world. The promise of America was one to which all the citizens of the world could aspire.

On Tuesday, we will celebrate the anniversary of the day we as a people declared our independence from Britain. But what is so easy to forget is the risk the signers of the declaration were taking when they placed their signatures on that parchment. To the British, it was an act of treason punishable by death. But they did sign because they firmly believed in the ideas expressed in this Declaration of Independence.

What’s even more amazing is that they did so when their own self-interest would have advised against doing so. Almost all of the signatories were personally worse off for having signed. But they understood that they were creating something that would allow great benefit to the future generations of citizens of this nation as well as to the entire world.

We have much for which to be grateful. May we take time as we celebrate July 4th to truly appreciate those who were willing to sacrifice for the nation we have today. And may we honor our God and Father, who is the giver of every good and perfect gift.