America…the Beautiful?

Our family is preparing to celebrate the 250th birthday of America this weekend. We have completed our Costco run, sent out the invites, set up the patriotic decorations (including the Soyful Glow Candles of course), purchased a small arsenal of fireworks, and set our sprinklers to run all night the eve of the 4th (There is a really “funny” story there). I believe there are 4 truly great holidays we celebrate in America and I think the 4th of July should be included in the list of the great American holidays.

Greatest American Holidays

#1 - Easter. Easter reminds us of who we put our hope in. “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem”. - Ronald Reagan. Our hope is not and should not be in our government. They are fallible people and pronged to corruption by the power they have been given. They fail to recognize who put them in their positions of power. Wait…before we pound our chests and make claims of being fully responsible, we did not (entirely on our own) put them in their positions of authority. God, in His sovereignty, places our rulers over us. That does not mean we are not responsible for them who hold those positions. God gives us the rulers we deserve. Easter is the celebration of the finished, redeeming work of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. Jesus is not the problem, our sin is, Jesus is the propitiation (1 John 2:2) for our sins and what could possible be more worthy of celebration?

#2 - Christmas . Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of the Son of God, the Christ, the Savior of the world. I know what you are saying to yourself right now (wishing I could actually hear you) my order doesn’t make sense, “Without the birth of the Christ, how could we celebrate His resurrection?” Great question, yes I heard you…Christmas celebrates the physical birth of Christ, the moment that The Son of Man was made, for a little while lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:7-10). That phrase for a little while is a clue for us. The Son of God, Jesus the Christ, is an eternal being. He decsended from Heaven (for a little while) for the work of becoming sin, suffering unto death, raising from the grave on the third day, conquering death, redeeming the elect, and ascending back to Heaven. He is our Creator, Eternal and All Powerful and worthy to be praised.

#3 - The 4th of July. Charcoal, gas, or wood pellet grills? Look, fire up the grill, put some meat on it and cook it to a medium rare temperature…and no matter what your cooking with…it’s all American. But so is debating about what the best type of fuel to cook with is…and after we are done debating the issue, we all sit down as Americans and enjoy a great meal and our favorite cold beverage…together…no hard feelings. We have a common bond as Americans…Freedom. We stand for the National Anthem, own as many firearms as we can afford, watch out for our neighbors, and with freedom as our anthem, we try to live and let live. America is under the allusion of freedom because we link our freedom to politics alone and have seem to forgotten the heroic deeds of the American Revolution that paid for our freedom. This weekend, as we celebrate this great nation, I hope you are truly free.

#4 - Thanksgiving. How many of you remeber sitting at the table with the family getting ready to eat that Thanksgiving meal? I can smell the turkey and all the fixings’ now. How many of you dreaded the moment at the table when someone suggested we go around and say what we were thankful for? I remember as a child, if we said grace first, before the “remember what we were thankful for” suggestion, we had a chance to avoid it all together. All that had to happen after grace was finished was to start eating right away and that started the chain reaction of immediate chaos and disorder as everyone reached for their favorite side to add another scoop to their plate. That chaos would drown out any attempts from someone making the dreaded suggestion to go around and state what we were thankful for. Thanksgiving is a time to remember and as a child I did not have the patients for it. We have plenty to be thankful for. We live in the greatest nation in the world and enjoy the benefits of those that made sacrifices for the freedom we enjoy. Remember that and be thankful for it!

Unfinished Work…

Jesus proclaimed “It is finished” as he took His last breath before He died on the cross (John 19:30). His work, to become sin and face the wrath of God on our behalf, is finished. Our work…is unfinished, For the believer in Christ, your work is to proclaim the Gospel message in all the earth, to Honor God in all you do, to Worship God and enjoy Him forever. God’s soveriegn providence in the birth of this nation, has made this nation great. What have work to do. That work will require you to be heroic, face opposition, work the problem, be unpopular, take a stand, be virtuous, rely on the protection of God’s divine providence, and appeal to Him for the rectitude of our intentions. God’s will be done.