Thankful for the United States

The United States is an exceptional country, officially 250 years old. The Lord has blessed our country with abundant natural resources, wide-ranging borders, access to waterways and oceans, capitalism, a pioneer mindset, and some of the most brilliant innovators of modern times. Also included in these blessings are our founding fathers, who established a constitutional republic, and desired "a more perfect union."

The earliest days of our country set the trajectory for what would still exist over 400 years later: liberty, and specifically, religious liberty. The pilgrims who boarded the Mayflower sailed the Atlantic in hopes of worshiping God according to their conscience. The Lord honored that desire, which became the indomitable pursuit through the generations, even though state churches drove the colonies otherwise.

Nevertheless, God used the Baptists to pave the way through a century of rugged darkness to secure this foundational freedom. Freedom of religion is the most important of our freedoms. Think of it, because we have freedom of religion, we can meet unmolested for church services, we can practice the Bible without government opposition (e.g., spanking, preaching against specific sins, self-defense), and we can preach the gospel to every creature and establish NT Baptist churches.

Our country is not what is used to be and it certainly is not what it should be, but I am still very thankful that I live as a citizen of the United States of America. I praise the Lord for what is still right about our country and for our God-honoring heritage.