Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Thanks for America
My friend John Brown, Scotwise, recently posted a letter that appeared in Autralian newspapers about America. It was in response to some threats in Pakistan to kill an American. The letter concluded:
Whether it be the blessings our nation provides or the simple blessings of family and friends, we take them so for granted. Because they come so easily we fail to appreciate their immense value. And how especially true that is of the salvation we enjoy in Christ.
HOW DARE WE! Oh, if you are so callous that you would trivialize the death of fellow citizens to preserve your freedoms, then so be it - I am sad for you, I will pray for you.
But how dare we take for granted the death of God Himself on our behalf. How dare we take that as a given. How dare we assume the grace granted to us at such a price.
God's sacrifice demands our humility. We when fail to give it we spit on the cross.
Thank God He just wipes it off and still loves us.
So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place.Why does it take the perspective of someone from outside to see the tremendous blessings that we enjoy? Why do we take them for granted so? John Brown, a Scots-Aussie, concludes his post with a prayer, a prayer where he thanks God for what America has brought to the world. How rarely I hear such prayers in America, and how sad that makes me.
They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.
Whether it be the blessings our nation provides or the simple blessings of family and friends, we take them so for granted. Because they come so easily we fail to appreciate their immense value. And how especially true that is of the salvation we enjoy in Christ.
HOW DARE WE! Oh, if you are so callous that you would trivialize the death of fellow citizens to preserve your freedoms, then so be it - I am sad for you, I will pray for you.
But how dare we take for granted the death of God Himself on our behalf. How dare we take that as a given. How dare we assume the grace granted to us at such a price.
God's sacrifice demands our humility. We when fail to give it we spit on the cross.
Thank God He just wipes it off and still loves us.
