Blog Politics Freedom—historical context

Read: I Peter 2:13-17

As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.--I Peter 2:16 (KJV)

Fireworks boom in the ears and marvel the eyes as they spread colorful displays high in the night sky. For all the buildup and excitement, not to mention money spent on fireworks for Independence Day, how many of us sit down with our children or grandchildren to teach them, and to remind ourselves, what it is we celebrate on July 4th and why this celebration is so important?

Do our children and grandchildren understand the struggle the Americans had against an autocratic king across the ocean who refused to grant basic liberties accorded to other British citizens, while continually finding ways to raise taxes--on almost everything?

Do they understand that many of our founding fathers, the ones most committed to making sure Americans were treated with dignity, lost property, lost their money, and lost loved ones in a war they believed critical to freedom?

Do our children and grandchildren know aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins who have gone to war to preserve a nation of freedom--some even paying with their lives? What of families, wives, mothers, and children, who lost loved ones far across the ocean in foreign lands?

Do they understand the true cost of growing up in America?

These days, schools don’t often teach history without spin and revision. It is up to us as parents and grandparents to pass on the faith and freedom that is the basis of America. If they do not know, if they aren’t taught the actual history, if they take their freedom of faith for granted, they will lose freedom and the right to worship.

It is already happening. America’s freedom started with men and women recognizing the true source of freedom--Jesus Christ. We need to pass on this faith as well.

Do I?

Thank you Jesus that, despite all the problems, I am privileged to live in America. Help me not take either my faith or my freedom for granted. Help me pass these concepts on to a new generation. Amen.

Meditations:
Monday: John 8:32
Tuesday: Galatians 5:1
Wednesday: Galatians 6:13-14
Thursday: Romans 6:7-8
Friday: Romans 6:22-23
Saturday: Romans 8:20-21

From Listen? Who Me?
(c) 2018 Carolyn R Scheidies