When you see the slogan of President Elect Trump, Make America Great Again, what does it make you think? Does it make you see red, when all you can think is "that there was nothing wrong with America"? Does it make you think that, "I hope they can do something"? How about, "There's nothing that we can really do"! Or the ever popular, "I'm not talking to you and will hum loudly until you go away"! I mean really? What do you think? What was/is it that made/makes America great and how do we find it, energize it, and use it again? How about, let's get to work.
It truly takes very few people to affect change. Jesus changed an entire people group and ultimately the entire world by applying his teachings to 13 disciples, if you include Judas' replacement. He and the others were willing to sacrifice their lives for humanity's sake. The same thing happened here in America where 56 men met, wrote a declaration of independence from Britain, and signed their names to the document. They sacrificed everything that they had accomplished for the greater good, believing that theirs was a God given certainty to be free. They were willing to affect change despite what material wealth they possessed.
"For the support of this document, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor". This is the last line of the declaration before these 56 men wrote the signature that would change their lives. This was no pack of idiots though some thought so. They were all prosperous, men of means, men who enjoyed luxuries that most did not have. By signing this paper they were forfeiting all that so that America could be free from tyranny. They had learned that liberty was more important than security and more valuable than life itself. Of the 56, few survived the war that followed.
What would you sacrifice for the liberty of your children? Would you be willing to sacrifice it all? We have to understand that not all are called to give everything for things to work as those 56 men intended, all are called to give some. We as a nation have grown fat and happy. Our favorite line in the constitution, and possibly the only one we recognize, is "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". It is that pursuit that has become the American occupation. We mostly spend our lives working so that we can be happy when we're off. We pursue, with diligence, things that are fleeting at best and nonexistent in truth, things that have no reasonable way to make us happy.
How to make America Great again: A Primer. 1st. We must recognize the provision that God had a hand in the making of and shaping of this country. You can say all you want about capitalism and other destructive tendencies of government but it's completely how a nation of individuals, a nation under God, has come together when needed to turn plowshares into swords to fight tyranny, or just together to help each other as help has been required. The so-called common folk who might not have the material wealth but have the heart to change things around them. And that's what it will take. A nation of givers. A nation of those who sacrifice time and energy, to show and instruct Gods ways and impact lives. There doesn't need to be a 2nd. Until next week. ags
