“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
It’s called “the Liberty Bell” and its home is Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Since the latter third of the 18th century, it’s been a symbol of freedom. On the bell is an inscription from the Old Testament book of Leviticus that reads, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land and to all the inhabitants thereof” (Leviticus 25:10). Visitors to this historic site notice that the old bell is cracked, said to have been rendered unringable by too vigorous a ringing on Washington’s Birthday in 1846.
Perhaps, the crack in that old bell is a good reminder that freedom is not perfect and liberty for all is not guaranteed anywhere in the world. The reality is that all governments are flawed because imperfect individuals create them. Katherine Lee Bates had that in mind, when sitting atop the 14,110-foot pinnacle of Pike’s Peak, and looking across the fruitful Colorado plains towards the Kansas border, wrote “America! America! God mend thine every flaw.”
Few today anywhere in the world are blind to those flaws. There are injustices, inequities in life, and wrongs that are garbed in expedience and made to appear as being righteous. Yet there is a flip side.
Billy Kim, a personal friend and outstanding Christian leader in Korea, was once traveling in the United States with a team of Korean medical doctors. As they were riding through the green hills of Pennsylvania, an animated discussion ensued as to why America had prospered when actually Korea had equal or greater natural resources and hadn’t advanced the same way.
Listening to the discussion somewhat passively, Billy, who was driving, suddenly pulled the car over to the side of the road and ordered, “Get out of the car!” The men riding with him, his guests, dutifully climbed out of the car, wondering what feat or lesson Billy was about to teach them.
Billy began by saying, “You men have been with me in recent days. You have seen the skyscrapers, the buildings, the fields and the factories.” Then he reached into his wallet and pulled out a dollar bill. He pointed to the words on the face of the money reading, “In God We Trust!” “Here,” he said, “is the reason God has blessed America.”
The terrible catastrophe of September 11, when the World Trade Towers were destroyed and the Pentagon was violated, was humbling and demeaning, a glaring and frightful statement that no nation is invulnerable or impregnable.
What did Moses mean when centuries ago he said liberty was to be proclaimed throughout the land? Was this a political statement suggesting that every nation be a democracy? Not at all. In its context, the statement was personal. People were to celebrate the 50th year when all debts were to be cancelled, and people were to celebrate the goodness of God.
Some timeless principles never change. The Psalmist said, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he [chooses] for his inheritance” (Psalm 33:12).
So, what does this teach us today? Simply put, that freedom under God is a personal matter regardless of the nature of the government under which you live. Jesus said, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Whether you live in a democracy or a socialist government, God wants you set free of the bondage of your old, sinful nature.
Today’s Guidelines is not intended to be a “hurray for America” commentary, but a hurray for God who can set you free spiritually and let His liberty reign in your heart. Biblical principles are true all over the world, wherever human hearts beat. And that is the fruit of His blessing, as Billy Kim so aptly pointed out.
Resource reading: Leviticus 25:8-22.
