The Fourth of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. When I was a child, it meant swimming in my grandparent’s pool, running around with sparklers at dusk, and drinking ice cold pop while watching the fireworks. As I got older, I came to value it because of the opportunity it presented for remembering our nations heritage. I loved to hear my daddy read the Declaration of Independence aloud. As a history buff, I also loved to stop and remember heroes like Dr. Joseph Warren, a man who was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill because he stayed behind to stall the British so his men could retreat to safety. Or like the patriot spy Nathan Hale, who at the age of 21 died with so much dignity and composure that the British officers in charge of his execution wrote in their personal diaries his last words: “I am so satisfied with the cause in which I have engaged that my only regret is that I have not more lives than one to render in its service”. Each year my family takes the opportunity to thank God for our heritage, and to pray that our nation would return to its Christian values.

However, in recent years as the holiday approaches I have more mixed feelings as I look at our nation. While it is undoubtedly true that our Forefathers were pious, principled defenders of liberty, the same cannot be said of us. As I evaluate the U.S., I must conclude that we are no longer a Christian nation. It’s ironic really, because when I was younger I would have vehemently argued the opposite. But a Christian nation fights to protect religious freedom, not to restrict and censure it. A Christian nation desires to protect life, and it does not fight to destroy millions of babies every year. I could go on, but longer and better articles than mine have already been written that establish this fact. However, those articles usually end with a plea for our nation to return to God, and with a heartfelt reminder that all is not completely lost for our country. We can still be “One nation under God” if we desire to repent. But I cannot write this. While it is true that God can redeem any nation, He does not make a habit of calling back those who are relentlessly determined to do the opposite of all that He has declared right and good. The U.S.A. has not only forsaken God, she has begun to contend with Him. She has no desire to repent.

So this year, my prayer for my nation is going to be a little bit different. This year it is going to be directed at the church in America. We Christians owe a lot to the United States for the religious liberty we have enjoyed thus far, and I am going to thank God for that. I am going to pray that we are reminded of what Paul told the Philippians: “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” ( Philippians 3:20 ESV). I am going to pray that God will give us resilience. We have been losing a lot of battles in the political arena here lately, and we will probably lose more before it’s all said and done. We will need to be able to recover from those losses and keep fighting. I am going to pray that God gives us the kind of courage that he gave the patriots of 1776. They fought against incredible odds, as they were vastly outmanned, outgunned, and inexperienced in comparison to the British. But they had courage and fought anyway, because they knew they were right, and because they knew their cause to be just. It is that same courage that will be required of us so that we may continue to persevere in doing what is right in the Lords sight, even if the whole world insists on doing what is wrong. And finally, I am going to pray that above all we continue to propagate the Gospel to every nation. May God continue to refine the church in America, so that “the tested genuineness of [our] faith- more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7 ESV).