I didn’t think much about the Fourth of July when I was little. It was just another excuse for food, fun, and a chance to see fireworks. But as I’ve grown up, read more, seen more, and understood more, I’ve realized just how unique and important the birth of my country was.

There’ve been hundreds of revolutions across the span of history. Perhaps more.

Not many of them succeeded well.

The French strove for life, liberty, and fraternity. These ideals were betrayed during the Reign of Terror where thousands of aristocrats and innocent citizens, (those whom the revolution was for), lost their heads at the blade of the guillotine. And after the Reign of Terror, Napoleon rose and established himself as the Emperor of France.

The Russians rebelled against the thousand year old system of tsars by doing away with the Romanovs. Within twenty years Stalin rose, and one oppressive system was replaced with a murderous dictatorship of death and brainwashing. Instead of making all men equal, men lost their individuality and those who conformed became puppets.

Perhaps those who took a stand in these revolutions wanted change, good change. Progress that would benefit their fellow countrymen.

But there are few cases where the change that occurs is good and beneficial to all.

America has its problems.

So does every country.

What makes the American Revolution unique is this: the change was good, and it has lasted.

The founding fathers and those who stood with them believed not that all men could be made equal, but that God created all men equal. (We all are made in the image of God, whether you believe in Him or not, and that fact makes us equal.) Whether of not they harbored a personal relationship with the Lord, they held God in high esteem and realized the truth of what they found in the Bible.

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.

John Adams

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

The Declaration of Independence

America has made mistakes, the racial discrimination and slavery of black men and women, the displacing and violence against the Native American peoples… and the list goes on.

However.

America, has acknowledged these flaws and has sought to improve the wrong that has occurred. We seek to protect Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness for every man.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

This is what our nation stands for.

From July 4th, 1776 America has stood by these ideals, recognizing that a government has failed to do it’s job if it ceases to protect these three unalienable rights.

If everyman is created in the image of God, then what right has another human being to suppress these rights?

The day America ceases to protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is the day America is no longer America.

If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.

Ronald Reagan

Everyman seeks freedom, seeks life, and seeks happiness.

What I want to leave you with is this: while America does remain the freest nation in the world, governmental freedom does not equal salvation. True Life, true Liberty, and true Happiness cannot be attained without the Lord.

That being said, I thank God and celebrate the freedom of our nation this July 4th, 2018.

(One last thing: if you haven’t read it fully before, or it’s been a while since you have, I highly encourage you to read this today – The Declaration of Independence. And if you’re looking for a good American Revolution film I recommend The Last of the Mohicans. Although it takes place a few years before the Revolution, it’s a great reminder of what our nation was built upon. It’s also my favorite movie, so I may be a tiny bit biased.)

(Images from Google and Pinterest.)