America, America, God Shed His Grace On Thee

America, America, God Shed His Grace On Thee

To appreciate The United States of America, we need to understand the context from which it started.

The vision of the USA began in the hearts of people who lived in a world where freedom of religion was not permitted.

Specific religions were either forced upon them through militant pressure or through constitutional law.

For others, the practice of any religion was suppressed and punished.

There was no freedom for those who wanted to practice the religion of their choice or who did not wish to practice religion at all.

In addition to no freedom of religion, there was no freedom of speech or freedom of the press.

Deep in the hearts of people in the countries of the world was the longing and vision of a nation where freedom flourished.

From this longing and vision, the USA was birthed.

The founders of the USA believed the longing for freedom was placed into the hearts of people by our Creator.

As a result, their vision was to create a nation where this freedom was granted and protected.

In this nation, the government could not mandate a specific religion to practice nor could it dictate that religion could not be practiced.

Contained in the Bill of Rights developed by our founders are the freedoms of religion, speech, and the press.

The first of these freedoms is the freedom of religion.

This is the freedom for individuals to worship within the religion of their choice or not to worship at all.

From the start of the USA, our people have been working to form a more perfect union, which means there is much in our nation's history that was not perfect, while at the same time there is much in our nation's history to be celebrated.

To move forward as a nation, we need God's grace.

We need God's grace to forgive each other for the mistakes that have been made.

We need God's grace to not hold the sins of former generations against those of this generation.

We need God's grace to move forward in the great God-given vision of freedom that we call The United States of America.

Our founders and those who came after them were not perfect, just as none of us are.

Just as we need grace for our sins, they need grace for their sins.

Though our founders were not perfect, they did carry a God-given passion for freedom that we all carry.

They worked to bring this passion for freedom to fulfillment.

We are thankful for them and celebrate what God did through them.

And because of this, we have a great nation...a grace nation... called The United States of America that God has brought into existence through imperfect people.

When God created the USA through imperfect people in need of his grace, let's not forget we are all imperfect people in need of his grace.

May we all receive God's grace in our imperfections.

May we extend his grace to others in their imperfections...to those of past generations and to those of our current generation.

By doing this, we will build a foundation of grace for future generations.

If we hold the sins of those in past generations against them, and if we hold the sins against those in our current generation, we will cease to have a nation.

Grace is the foundation of a great nation and is the only way we will have a future nation where freedom rings.

Grace consists of freedom and forgiveness.

Grace doesn't control.

Grace gives the freedom to make choices...and some of those choices are wrong and are in need of forgiveness.

Only when we forgive by grace can we move forward.

I love these words in the song, America The Beautiful:

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee...

God has shed his grace on us...let's now share his grace with each other.

Read more about God’s grace on Brad’s Blog.