Dear Friends,
By the time this letter reaches you, the events of this week will be gone but not forgotten. If we can celebrate Christmas in July, then why not the Fourth of July in September!
I am writing in the early part of the week which contains our July 4 celebrations. Along with my family, I am keenly anticipating the fireworks, the food, and the fun. We will sing, as citizens of “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” of a “patriot dream that sees beyond the years,” asking for God to continue to shed His grace upon our nation.
I don’t recall ever writing about this in previous years, but I do not want to miss this opportunity on the occasion of our 250th anniversary.
This morning, as I led the Truth For Life team in our weekly devotion time, we considered the part John Witherspoon played in advancing the cause of the Gospel in the formative years of America. He was a Scottish Presbyterian minister who sailed from his homeland in 1768 to accept the presidency of the College of New Jersey, which later became Princeton University. Witherspoon participated in the Continental Congress and was the only active clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence.
It was Scripture, however, and not politics that shaped his worldview, and there is no doubt that he was a Gospel man. Consider this quote: “Nothing is more plain from Scripture, or better supported by daily experience, than that man by nature is, in fact, incapable of recovery [from his sinful state] without the power of God specially interposed.” At his death in 1794, John Adams described him as “a true son of liberty, but first he was a son of the cross.”
In direct contrast, loud voices today are quick to suggest that at some stage in the future, science will be able to explain everything and answer all our needs. Theoretical physicist and Nobel Prize winner Steven Weinberg speaks for more than himself when he declares, “Putting God ahead of humanity is a terrible thing.”
Os Guinness has described what we’re living through now as a “civilizational moment.” We either build on the rock by hearing God’s Word and putting it into practice, or we neglect it, build on the sand, and prepare for the long decline that will inevitably follow. In my youth, as Britain’s proud empire was crumbling, we sang,
Kingdoms will rise,
kingdoms will fall
Nations refuse to heed God’s call,
But the Word of the Lord
Endures forevermore.
This morning I reminded our team that our focus can never change. Truth that sets us free is found only in Jesus, and the life He offers is abundant in every way.
Thank you for being such a vital partner in this adventure as together we declare, “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.” We plant and water, but only God gives growth—and we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
So as we arrive at Labor Day weekend recalling the celebrations of the Fourth, let’s echo the words of the psalmist, saying together, “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” (Ps. 85:6).
With my love in the Lord Jesus,
Alistair
