It’s Friday…Be People God Can Bless

It’s Independence Day in America. A scholar from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told a group of Westerners in 2002 that his group was “asked to look into . . . what accounted for the success, in fact, the pre-eminence of the West all over the world.” After dismissing views that our success was tied to our military, politics, or economic system, they concluded: “the heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity. That’s why the West has been so powerful. The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics. We don’t have any doubt about this.”

When Christopher Columbus set foot on land in the New World, these were his first words: “Blessed be the light of day, and the Holy Cross we say; and the Lord of Verity, and the Holy Trinity.”

The first set of written laws for the New World was the Mayflower Compact, ratified in 1620. Some have called it “the first American Constitution.” John Quincy Adams called it the foundation of the U.S. Constitution.

The Compact states that the Pilgrims came to the New World “for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith.” They made their covenant “in the Presence of God.” According to William Bradford, their governor, when the Pilgrams came ashore “they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean.”

Next came the “Fundamental Orders” of 1639, the first written Constitution in the New World. Its preamble states the colonists’ purpose: “To maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess.”

“Blessed is the nation whose God is The LORD.” (Psalm 33:12)

“Blessed” means to be so blessed as to be envied by others.  Every nation makes someone or something its god. But when we make our God the One True LORD of the universe, we position ourselves to be blessed by His grace.

Our Heavenly Father will bless any nation whose people seek His favor. As with the first Americans, let’s choose to seek what His love intends to give. Let’s Be People God Can Bless. And let’s pray for others to do the same as we sing: “God Bless America” today and every day, for His glory.

Have a blessed weekend. Make it better by worshiping The LORD with those who know how blessed they are because they know He has blessed them.

All For Jesus – Nothing More, Nothing Less, Nothing Else.

“He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, The King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see, to Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:15b-16)