America 250
The United States of America is officially 250 years old. Saturday marked the quarter millennium—or semiquincentennial—of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Americans celebrated across the country but record high temperatures and volatile weather over large portions of the eastern half of the nation disrupted and delayed many of the celebrations. In Washington, DC, the flagship celebration on the National Mall was delayed and the area evacuated as a strong thunderstorm rolled through shortly before the scheduled start time. The show went on later in the evening and ran until well after midnight.
More the 30 people are dead (29 in New Jersey alone) as a result of the intense heat, which follows the loss of more than 1,300 lives in Europe due to last week’s record high temperatures.
Analysis and eternal perspective: America is still a young nation relatively speaking, but there is no denying the world-changing impact of its founding. The two-and-a-half centuries since the Founders met in Philadelphia to formally throw off the governance of the Brits have produced stratospheric strides forward in human innovation and flourishing.
Many observers attribute this rapid rise to the unique American idea of individual liberty and opportunity. The strength of America collectively has been and continues to be found largely in liberties granted to every individual American. This has incentivized generation after generation to leave both their children and their country better than they found it. The byproduct is a world superpower and the most advanced and prosperous civilization the world has ever known!
Even so, the experiment that is America’s democratic republic is still in its adolescence at most, and it falls to modern day Americans to determine what type of country will be left to the next generation.
If you are a Jesus follower in America, you have a multi-faceted charge to walk out, but one largely built around two main duties: 1) pointing mankind to an eternal Kingdom (Col. 3:2), and 2) investing in the flourishing of your current home (Jer. 29:4-7).
These two mandates may seem contradictory, but are in fact very much intertwined and complimentary. Your association with an eternal home gives you a freedom to live with open hands toward your neighbor and your community. It gives you the internal framework necessary to prioritize the wellbeing of those around you over yourself, and it gives to your nation the secret sauce necessary to flourish.