On July 4, 2009 America will celebrate her 233^rd birthday as a nation. I am grateful to the Lord that in His providence I had the privilege of being born in America. I love my country and the heritage I have as a citizen of this great nation. Although we are losing many of our freedoms, America is still the freest nation in the world. However, I fear that the America my children and grandchildren inherit will be far different from the America I have known. We as a nation have lost the value of freedom and forgotten the price that was paid for our liberty. 

History records the price that the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were willing to pay for our liberty as a nation. Of the fifty-six men who signed that document on that fateful day July 4, 1776, five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Continental Army. Another had two sons captured. Nine of them fought and died from either their wounds or the hardships of the war.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships sunk by the British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in poverty. At the battle of Yorktown, the British General Cornwallis had taken over Thomas Nelson’s home for his headquarters. Nelson quietly ordered General Washington to open fire on his own home. The home was destroyed and Thomas Nelson died bankrupt. John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their thirteen children fled for their lives. His fields and mill was destroyed by the British invaders. For over a year, he lived in forest and caves, returning home only to find his wife dead and his children gone. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion. 

As Americans we must stand fast in the personal and political liberties that have been handed to us from our forefathers. We must realize that freedom isn’t free – it always comes with a price. I am afraid there will someday arise a generation in America that will no longer value our liberty and will succumb to tyranny. Let’s determine to not be that generation!

Far greater than the freedoms I enjoy as an American is the freedom that I have in Christ. Through His redemptive work at Calvary I have been set free from the tyranny of sin and Satan. This too came at a great cost. Over 2,000 years ago the Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily laid down His life at Calvary paying the penalty for my sins and the sins of the entire world. You may have the personal liberties as an American yet still be in spiritual bondage to sin. Friend, the price has been paid. Why don’t you come to Christ and let Him set you free!