As we celebrate Independence Day we should be thankful for all that it means. But, we should also be thoughtful as to where we are and troubled by where we are headed. As much as we might want to maintain a positive and cheerful attitude, it’s not a pretty picture! It doesn’t take a genius to see that we have strayed afar from the ideals of our forefathers and that we are headed for disaster. Ignoring it only hastens the day of reckoning. Pretending all is well doesn’t make it so.
While it is easy to blame the present administration, and/or the incompetence of both parties in recent years, we need to see the bigger picture. Congress is but a reflection of what we are corporately. To lay all the blame on them is like the “pot calling the kettle black”. It is “we the people” who have promoted, supported, and tolerated the inept leaders who are taking us over the precipice. We tolerate in ourselves the very things for which we condemn the government. The blind are leading the blind and all are headed for the ditch. Change will never come until we get brutally honest about ourselves, turn to God, and install new leadership. Hope, therefore, begins with us, not them.
President President James Garfield (1831-1881) wrote: “The people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption.” Yes, “We the people” are responsible, and “We the people must take responsibility for our actions. James Madison “the Father of US Constitution” declared: “Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.” (Memorial & Remonstrance, 1785). Our first president, George Washington, declared in his First Inaugural Address that “There is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness…. [So] the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.” The Word of God, as delivered by Solomon, put it this way: “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Prov. 14:34). Think about it!
