Our Forefathers, A Fourth of July Reflection

I've been making my way through a documentary of English history. Yes, I have free time flowing out of my ears.

Anyway, the most consistent truth I've seen is the consequence of treason. The amount of men (and women) burned at the stake, hung until death, and block chopped for disagreeing with the ultimate head of nobility.

Yet, men like John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington faced those deathly shadows literally because they believed in a vision for the future. They hoped in something much grander than themselves. They risked all: home, children, wives, careers, and their very lives, for freedom and for liberty.

I've been considering this morning if this is a foreign concept for us. Has our vision of "America" somehow crippled our continuance of dreaming as those in the past who sacrificed for us? Have we traded the longing for enjoyment and the hope of happiness? Have we settled for ease when we could be part of a grand adventure, that places us in the center of a battle for life and death, not necessarily physical, but spiritual? 

Are we willing to risk our own comfort to defend and promote the spiritual freedom and liberty of others? To show them the face of Jesus?

I will not live an unlived life but will risk for the beauty of the kingdom, the expansion of its liberty and the true freedom that is found in being a slave to Christ.