In the middle of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
I believe that most Americans, myself included, do not truly appreciate the concept of freedom
and the opportunities afforded by liberty because we have never experienced a life where every
effort was dictated for us.
Where we can go…
What we can say…
What our purposes in life should be...
If my husband and I decide to go away for the weekend we are free to cross state lines and come
and go at our leisure. Our children have varied interests and there is nothing beyond their
willingness to educate and work hard that dictates which career they must pursue or what
opportunities are off limits to them. We are blessed to live in a country which affords such
liberties and that is what we celebrate each year on the 4th of July.
Emerging from a nation ruled by monarchs our Founding Fathers intended to allow this new
nation to grow and develop with only enough government to sustain and protect the citizenship.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,
promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and
our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of
America. ~ Preamble
Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and we know that even as the ink dried on these words everyone
was not free to pursue life, liberty and happiness.
The problem in this Great American Experiment is sin. The inclination of every human being is
to break laws when it suits their purposes. Jesus addressed this inclination when he offered
freedom to the Jews in John 8:31-32.
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word,
you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will
set you free.”
They rejected His offer of freedom on the grounds that they were the “offspring of Abraham”
and never enslaved to anyone. Again, hindsight is 20/20 and we know that they had been
enslaved before and even then where subjected to the whims of the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire did not concern Jesus. He was concerned with the chains upon their hearts
and minds. In verse 34 He clarifies his indictment,
Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave
does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets
you free, you will be free indeed.
These words are at the root of our dire need and our salvation. True freedom cannot be
found in any set of laws made by human hand. The law serves only to reveal our
personal enslavement to sin. As long as we are indentured to our sin nature we are not
free to serve even our own best interests.
Christian liberty is not birthed by human law neither is it lawlessness. It is subject to a
law of love (John 13:34, Galatians 5:13) by which we follow the example of Christ
through voluntary self-sacrifice for the glory of GOD and the benefit of our neighbor.
King Solomon, explores the sole “pursuit of happiness” in Ecclesiastes and concludes in
Ecclesiastes 12:13;
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his
commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
Solomon, with every resource at his command, eventually realized that apart from God
the all pursuits were like chasing after the wind. Freedom and happiness is often closely
aligned with hedonism and selfishness. Society associates “happiness” with a subjective
state of pleasure. This is the reason, as followers of Christ, we are often dismayed with
the way freedom is expressed in our country. An important aspect of freedom is that we
are free to disagree.
The Founding Fathers did their best to create a system which would protect hard won
freedoms but realized that it was a precarious proposition.
The deliberate union of so great and various a people in such a place, is
without all partiality or prejudice, if not the greatest exertion of human
understanding, the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the
world has ever seen. ~ John Adams
Abigail Adams, wife of the 2nd President and mother of the 6th, writes in a letter to Mercy Otis
Warren on November 5, 1775:
A patriot without religion in my estimation is as great a paradox as an
honest Man without the fear of God. Is it possible that he whom no moral
obligations bind, can have any real Good Will towards Men?
Can he be a patriot who, by an openly vicious conduct, is undermining the
very bonds of Society, corrupting the Morals of Youth, and by his bad
example injuring the very Country he professes to patronize more than he
can possibly compensate by intrepidity, generosity and honour?
Scriptures tell us ‘righteousness exalteth a Nation.’
The American Republic continues today by the grace of God within a framework
established with checks and balances afforded by the Constitution. I do not know what
the future will hold for our nation but I know Who holds the future and my trust is in
Him. Proverbs 3:5-6 states,
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own
understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make
straight your paths.
We are greatly blessed by the blood and sacrifice which built this nation but we must
never fail to acknowledge the blood of Christ which purchased the only true freedom and
reigns by example through the law of Love.