"I CAN READ HIS RIGHTEOUS SENTENCE... -- Devotional for July 4, from "Good Seeds"

DEAR READERS: Beginning today (July 3) I will attempt to publish the devotional for the following day, so when you open up the blog on any given day, there you have the devotional for that day. No promises, just a good intention that I will try to fulfill. I'm already in the "Fourth of July Spirit" having written a devotional about our nation, where it's been, and where it may be headed. Some of what I've written here is excerpted from a sermon I wrote and preached over 10 years ago (This is my only pulpit now -- may it "flame with righteousness!") If these words spoke to contemporary America then, all the more now, I think. Funny how I should have this conversation with a fellow customer at the store this afternoon, right in the middle of producing today's devotional. Nothing like an up to date illustration!

Remember HIS Righteousness.

In His grip, Steve

PS - Do you recognize the line from one of our patriotic songs in today's title?

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. (Proverbs 14:34)

Back in 1831, when our nation was young, a well-known French thinker and historian, Alexis de Tocqueville, visited America and went home to write these words:

"I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests – and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich mines, her vast world commerce, her public school system and in her institutions of higher learning – and it was not there. I looked for it in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution – and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!

Now, although I’m as “proud to be an American,” as I ever was, I’m not proud of the unrighteousness and ugliness that seem to have soiled our reputation of late. A man I met in a store today told me that he’s downright worried about where our country is going, and he’s just about ready to move to Australia. I responded, “I hear you, but I won’t follow you.” I wish I would have thought to share with him what follows here: I too am filled with foreboding when I see all around me evidence that America is slipping from greatness -- but I know the reason, and I know the remedy. Solomon said it so plainly: God exalts any nation that exalts Him, but He won’t play favorites. When millions of citizens think they can toy with sin and get away with it, well, as Billy Graham said, “If America doesn’t clean up her act pretty soon, God owes Sodom an apology!” We’re seeing it already, where our nation’s reputation is no longer the pristine one of a people dedicated to righteousness. The dedication of many has turned to other things, things money can buy and that electronic devices can receive, polluting our once sacred homes. Our heroes have become living icons of pop entertainment, the superheroes (or silly heroes) of the animated screen, or the super-killers of virtual reality violence. Where is the “righteous good” in any of this, of which de Tocqueville spoke? An Asian businessman was having lunch with a great American of our day, and the conversation turned to America as seen through the eyes of foreigners. He observed that while the world still regards the U.S. as the leading economic and military power on earth, it no longer beholds us with the moral respect it once did, as a “shining city on a hill.” Instead, it sees a society in decline. Something has gone terribly wrong with America! We can’t fix it by laws and politics. The only cure is a restoration of righteousness at the core of our society. (By the way, I DID manage to share THIS in my conversation with my Australia-bound fellow American).