Celebrating Our Freedom

Every time we get close to a national holiday celebrating all that we have I want to remind myself that God is not the God of the United States of America, He is God of the nations.  While it is wonderful to think about all of the freedoms that we have - none of them are guaranteed to continue and I wonder sometimes if they go away how the church will change.  If we lose our right to assembly, will we still gather?   If we lose our right to speech, will we still proclaim the death of the Lord until His return?  If we lose the freedom of religion, will we stop serving our Savior?

Far too often the nation in which we live becomes confused with the promised land.  Because of all of our freedoms and because of our nations history we sometimes wrongly believe that the USA has a special place in the heart of God.  This is not a biblical thought.  Nations rise and fall.  Nations plot and scheme.  And yet God sits on his throne and laughs.  (see Psalm 2).  We also know the end of the story and what is to come and it is not pretty for those who believe until Jesus returns.  

So by all means we can celebrate the freedom we have in America, but would it not be better to focus on the freedom that we have because of the sacrifice of Christ?  This is permanent, the former may well be temporary.