Tomorrow the United States of America turns 234 years old. I love my country. It may have its flaws, but there is no other country on the earth like it, and no other place I would rather live. People from all over the world have come to this country looking for a better life.
My grandfather left his native Sweden when he was only 16 years old, venturing out alone to America looking for a better life, and he found it. He passed through Ellis Island, settled in Massachusetts, and through hard work and determination made a life for himself.
Our country is founded on the principle that all people are created equal, we all have a chance to pursue that better life. If you work hard, do your best and never give up, it will pay off in the end. It doesn’t always work out that way, but it does often enough to make the dream worth chasing.
I recently heard Mike Donehey of the band Tenth Avenue North talk about our performance based culture. As a musician, he is paid to perform, just like I am at my job. Our worth is tied to how we perform, and we expect to get that which we have earned.
Maybe that is why Christianity is a difficult concept for some Americans to grasp, because it goes against our culture, how we were raised. Christianity is not performance based. Salvation is something we can never earn. So it was given to us as a free gift.
We judge ourselves based both on what we have accomplished, and the mistakes we have made. But we cannot earn God’s favor. We cannot work our way into heaven.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” — Ephesians 2:8-9
But also, there is nothing we have done that can keep us from the love of God. That is the theme of Tenth Avenue North’s song: “You Are More”
You are more than the choices that you’ve made
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes
You are more than the problems you create
You’ve been remade‘Cause this is not about what you’ve done
But what’s been done for you
This is not about where you’ve been
But where your brokenness brings you to
This is not about what you feel but He felt to forgive you
And what He felt to make you new
We are all sinners, but God’s love is greater than any mistake we have made. We need to ask for His forgiveness and put our faith in Him instead of ourselves. We need to accept His gift, His grace.
“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” — Romans 3:22-24
Just as the United States offers freedom to all people, no matter who they are, so too Christ offers the free gift of forgiveness to all who believe.
