This coming Friday, July 4ty, 2025, you most likely will hear, or see go off in the sky or even personally set off many fireworks at your home, as our nation celebrates its 249th year in being a nation.

I always wonder what our forefathers would say if they were to see America today. Would those 13 colonies see what congress signed in the Declaration of Independence on July 4^th 1776 be seen living out in our nation and its people?

Those were very different times and people back in 1776. The people who lived back then had values and morals, a patriotism and a deep love for our nation and respect for our Creator, I am afraid is not seen today.

People back then loved America and what it stood for. They fought and died in the battlefields of war for the freedom our great nation has and the thought of burning our flag would never cross their minds.

Concerning what our forefathers created back in 1776, Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying: “For the first time in human history, a nation was brought into being recognizing, as our great Declaration of Independence affirms, that all persons are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness”

God and His values were the foundation on what our nation was based on. Yet, its not hard to see how far our nation and its people have strayed from that in today’s world. I still believe America is the greatest nation to live in but we have to check where our hearts are today.

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ came to the world to die for the sins of man so we could be set free from the wages of sin and have true freedom. 

We live in a nation that still has freedoms many other nations don’t have but what have we as Americans done with our freedom. Churches today are sadly not as full as they once were. Sports, distractions, selfish desires and so many other things have replaced going to church, serving the Lord and making sure our families are based on God and His principles.

Compromise is a huge word for believers today, myself included. Have we compromised our freedom to do our own thing, believe what we feel is right, live a lifestyle that fits our mode and much more?

David’s prayer in Psalm 26:2 should be the prayer of the body of Christ in today’s times: “Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind” (emphasis added)