Tip of My Iceberg

Photo courtesy of Zuzanka Glaczynska on Unsplash

I love birthday parties.

Not my own, mind you. But anyone else’s.

Celebrating America’s 250th birthday is a privilege and pleasure. We live in a country that has intended to offer freedoms unknown to many in the world. We’re not always great at it, but it’s a goal to pursue.

As a country, we’re actually fairly young pups. Many countries have centuries on us as far as age. England, the country from which we gained our freedom, became a sovereign nation in 927 AD, remaining so for 1,099 years.

We’re young.

Our youth doesn’t detract from our values. We became a nation based on the opportunities for people to be free from the yoke of forced faith, escaping oppression, rejecting absolute monarchy, and establishing a government driven by the desires of the people. The idea of fundamental rights for all people, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, was radical in its conception. No other country had such a focus on its citizens, such a concern for the well-being of its populace; America was a unique nation.

Since the beginning of time, nations have been raised up and have fallen based on what they were able to accomplish, the countries they were able to conquer, and the wealth they were able to accumulate. Conquered peoples were subjected to new rulers and laws; many were forced to work for their captors, adapting to their laws and traditions.

Nearly every country throughout history has faced catastrophic collapse or total destruction. It’s happened through regime changes, civil wars, or environmental disasters, and it keeps the world’s social and political map in constant flux.

The Jews in Jesus’ time longed for their own country to be free from the Romans. They’d been under Roman subjugation for roughly 700 years, and they longed for a Messiah to free them from bondage to their oppressors. They believed this promised Messiah would be a warrior king, one who would free them once and for all.

That wasn’t the type of freedom Jesus provided.

When the religious leaders tried to trap Him into saying something for which He would be arrested, they sent their proteges to Jesus to ask Him if it was right to pay taxes to Caesar, which were brutal and levied on top of the taxes they had to pay for the upkeep of the temple. The Jews struggled with this.

Jesus, understanding that these religious leaders were trying to trap Him, asked whose image was on the coin used to pay taxes. “‘Caesar’s,’ they replied. Then He said to them, ‘So give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’” Matthew 22:21. Jesus didn’t come to overthrow a nation. He came to conquer the offenses we do that lead to eternal separation from God. Freedom from eternal death; freedom to be guaranteed heaven.

We all seek freedom. Personal freedom, religious freedom, freedom of speech, freedom to live life in a way that matters to us. Freedom, however, isn’t ignoring the rules and laws that every country establishes for itself. It’s living within the system respectfully and responsibly.

True freedom is freedom of the heart, when we’re not weighed down by our own wrongdoings, guilt, and shame. Jesus offers us that.

America, in its brief history, has given us freedoms that no other country offers its citizens. We even have the freedom to speak against our government and not be persecuted for it.

Living in America has given us much to be grateful for. Let’s focus on the good.

Happy Birthday, America.

Photo courtesy of Jeffery Hamilton on Unsplash