An Independence Day Message for Christians

independence

Today, across the country, we celebrate the day our Founding Fathers officially declared independence from England.  For 242 years, we have enjoyed the unprecedented liberty to live our lives according to our dreams and principles.

But today, we find our country at a moral crossroads.  As Jesus followers we have enjoyed the freedom of religious expression since the founding of our country.  Many of us fear that freedom eroding.

Along with the erosion of our religious liberty, we sense the decline of the moral principles that have led to our country’s greatness. Sadly, most seem to fail to identify the true root of our problems and offer insufficient solutions.

Let me ask you to take the time today or in the next few days to view the sermon video below.  My prayer is that we, as Christians, will seek to influence our culture as Jesus had in mind.

Make America Godly Again from Jim Duggan on Vimeo.

How to Fix This Mess

I love my country.  Because I love my country, I am burdened for my country.  We are in a mess.

Like a levee break that started as a slow trickle through a small crack but turned into a full fledged water wall of destruction, our culture which was once slowly drifting from our moral base has in the last few years quickly drifted so far from it that all semblance of morality is gone.

Consider this warning from God:

 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! – Isaiah 5:20

God holds us, His children, responsible for this mess.  It isn’t our government’s fault, it’s not Hollywood’s fault, it’s not the education establishment’s fault, it’s not the media’s fault.  It’s ours.  After all, Jesus reminded us:

 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” – Matthew 5:13

Not we SHOULD be, but we ARE the salt of the earth, we ARE the preservative of our culture.  If our culture is rotten, the problem is with us.

With Jesus there is always hope. Transformation must first begin in us as individuals, then in our families, through our churches, eventually affecting our culture.  It starts not by changing Washington, but by changing ME.

The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ Kingdom Manifesto.  If we become Sermon on the Mount people, our culture will be salted and lit.  Read Matthew 5-7 daily.  Ask God to help you become that kind of follower.

Next week I will begin blogging on the Sermon on the Mount.  I am doing it for me.  I want to be  transformed.  I hope you will read along.