If you need me this afternoon, I will probably be somewhere between the grill and a lawn chair, and I am not sorry about it. Today is for burgers, fireworks, family, and that one neighbor who clearly spent too much money on things that explode.
I love the Fourth of July. I love the flags. I love the cookouts. I love watching kids stare at fireworks like the sky just learned how to clap. But this year carries a little extra weight.
America turns 250 years old today.
Two hundred and fifty years after July 4, 1776, we still live in a nation where we can gather, worship, speak, pray, vote, serve our neighbors, and preach the Gospel openly. That is not something to take lightly. Last Sunday I stood in front of our church, opened the Bible, preached Jesus, prayed publicly, and nobody stopped me.
There are believers around the world who risk their lives to do what we did before lunch. So before we argue, critique, post, debate, or diagnose everything wrong with the country, gratitude is the right place to start. Freedom is a gift. And gifts are meant to be stewarded.
Gratitude Does Not Mean Passivity
Here is where I will say something plainly: politics matter, and if you are a Christian, you should be politically active.
Not because our hope is in a party, a platform, or a politician. It is not. The kingdom of God is not hanging by a thread every election cycle. Jesus is still Lord before the polls open, while the votes are counted, and after the results are announced.
But culture matters. The world matters. Our communities matter. The neighborhoods our kids and grandkids are growing up in matter. We are citizens of heaven, but we are also citizens here, and citizenship carries responsibility.
Jesus could not have made that much clearer than He did in the Sermon on the Mount, when He called His people salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16).
Salt works against decay. Light points toward what is true.
That means the church has two assignments at the same time. We work against moral and cultural decay, and we work for truth. We push back what is rotting, and we carry what is right. We resist darkness, and we shine.
Where is the Salt?
John Stott once asked the right question: "One can hardly blame unsalted meat for going bad. It cannot do anything else. The real question to ask is: 'Where is the salt?'" That one stings a little, because it shifts the question.
The question is not only, "What is wrong with the culture?" The question is, "Where was the church?"
It is easy to complain about the direction of the culture. It is harder to get in it. Pray for our leaders. Vote your convictions. Serve your neighbors. Speak truth with love. Raise children and grandchildren who know the difference between having an opinion and carrying responsibility.
The church was never called to sit in the stands and critique the game. We are not called to maintain. We are called to advance.
And that does not mean we become angry, bitter, loud, or mean. Some people confuse outrage with conviction. They are not the same thing. Salt does not have to scream to do its job. Light does not have to panic when the room is dark. It just has to show up. So show up.
Show up in prayer. Show up in public life. Show up in your neighborhood. Show up at the ballot box. Show up at school board meetings when it matters. Show up for the family down the street. Show up with truth in your mouth and love in your heart. Passive Christianity is not an option. Not if Jesus meant what He said.
What We Do With Freedom
Tonight, I will watch the fireworks and thank God for 250 years of freedom. I will probably eat more than I should. I will enjoy my family. I will laugh at Amira if she tells the adults how the evening is supposed to run, because that is usually how our family schedule works. But somewhere in the middle of all of it, I am going to ask God to help us steward this moment well.
Because freedom is not just something we celebrate. Freedom is something we carry. Somebody paid for it before us, and somebody will inherit what we do with it after us.
If you are anywhere near Anderson, tomorrow morning at 10:00 we are gathering for Celebrate America at GT Church. We are going to honor the firefighters, police officers, EMTs, and the Madison County Sheriff's Department who serve this community every day. Then we are heading outside for food, cornhole, bounce houses, shaved ice, and cotton candy. Wear your red, white, and blue and bring a neighbor.
Tonight we celebrate freedom.
Tomorrow we get back to being salt and light.
Happy Fourth of July, America.
Now, church, where is the salt?
Pastor David
