A friend sent me a video recently of a young man singing his heart out. This YouTube-instant-sensation, plain-speaking, country boy comes out of the Appalachian woods and out of musical obscurity to sing—to wail really, to plead his case from his stripped down, unwavering heart—about the freedom we all long for in the middle of a broken world. This new world, where too many don’t love God, want to bring Him down to their level, think they can ignore Him, and perpetrate their misshapen worldview on everyone else. Same as it’s been for 6,000 years come to think of it.

What’s new is that the foundations of freedom in America have, in recent years, been threatened like never before. Let’s get some things straight about our Christian beliefs and the freedom we hold dear. We respect all men but don’t fear them—we save our Holy awe for God. Nor do we look upon any man as having greater or lesser value than ourselves. We’re all of equal value: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Declaration of Independence). Two truths, for our purposes, come out of this: 1) God is the great equalizer. 2) God is the founder of freedom.

Sometimes things look dire. If we look deeper, however, we see a world not falling apart, but a plan falling into place. “Livin’ in the new world with an old soul,” the artist sings. Indeed, there are many old souls out here who love God, care for the plight of any suffering man, and know full well God’s coming back to seal the deal for our freedom once and for all.

I hope this encourages you to speak up for the freedom that God offers today.

Kevin Murray
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