It’s that time again. For the next 10 days or so, fireworks will be sounding all over our country. On Saturday night in particular, the booms will be heard well into the morning hours. I love fireworks. One of my favorite memories is of standing with my new bride on the banks of the Mississippi River in New Orleans watching the city show being fired off from two barges in the river. It was beautiful! I’ve enjoyed the incredible fireworks show at Disney, seen the displays at major league ballparks and even had a few good shows in my own backyard! Fireworks are fun for sure.
The reason we’ll hear fireworks this week is because we are celebrating 250 years as a nation and what a celebration that should bring! The “American Experiment” has succeeded in bringing freedom and peace to its citizens and many others in the world. Capitalism and democracy are working, not flawlessly, but working nonetheless. The three-branched system of government born in the minds of our founding fathers has been successful thus far. While no government is perfect, this one seems to have worked pretty well for the last two and a half centuries.
The Declaration of Independence, our Constitution and the Bill of Rights provide ample freedom for our people to move, work, speak and live, while still creating boundaries tight enough to keep us from destroying ourselves. I praise God for the work He has accomplished here and the work that is still yet to be done.
The immigrants who’ve flooded our shores since the 1600’s brought with them a distinct sense of freedom that I would argue is God-given. They didn’t learn this in their countries of origin. This sense was born into them and they saw this country as a place to learn those boundaries. Land and natural resources have always been plentiful here. But the draw to these shores was for more than land. Men and women saw an opportunity for something new here; something big. They saved their money, honed their craft and boarded a ship with the sole intent of ‘making a dent’ in the new world. Their ‘dents’ shape us still! From music, to craftsmanship, to art, to unlimited inventiveness…Americans, as we would soon be called, changed the world.
Christians have always pushed these limits and the Church has always been at the center of the change that led to freedom. From healthcare to orphan care, from major inventions to major works of art, Christians have led the way in the path to freedom. From the music that moves us to the companies who inspire us, the Church continues to push these limits in a good way. We are born again as big-hearted people who long for the goodness of God to be seen and felt in the world around us. And we understand, if left to ourselves, these things would never be seen. But if we bend to the mighty Spirit of God, His purpose will be accomplished. And that purpose is not for America to live in infamy but for the glory of God to resound across every nation and through every government on earth. We’ve had plenty of mistakes, but overall, our country has led the way in accomplishing this goal.
On the day before the Declaration of Independence was signed, John Adams wrote about July 4th to his precious Abigail. He said, “It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shows, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations (fireworks) from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more!”
Every time I hear a boom or see a majestic display of lights in the sky around the 4th, I think about all the hosts of Heaven singing together, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty! The whole earth is filled with His glory” (Isaiah 6.3)! I don’t praise God for our greatness or our wisdom. I praise Him for what He has done and all that He is still going to do. And I praise Him for allowing us the privilege to live together as a nation for the last two and a half centuries. “God, won’t you use us still!”
