Be Virtuous
“The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.”
~ Frederick Douglass
Mr. Douglass sure knew about what he was talking! Virtues. They are incredibly important — in the home, in society, in the Church, and in the world. Without virtues, we would be a people and a nation that succumbed to total decadence. Virtues are what keeps us on the straight and narrow.
We celebrate our independence this day, an independence from tyranny, some have said, and an independence that prompted the rights that we in our nation often take for granted. We were established as a nation that would have religious freedom and would stand up for and protect the rights of others. There are those who would claim that those rights have eroded through the years and still others who would say that we have lost many of those rights completely.
I think we still have much of which we could be proud. We are a nation that has developed into a wealthy power in the world. We should use that wealth to serve others better. We are a nation that has developed into a world power. We need to put that power to good use ensuring freedom for others. We are a nation that has become comfortable, safe, and well fed. You know where I am going with this by now. We need to ensure that all people are comfortable, safe, and well fed.
We can only be secure when we make sure that everyone is secure. That can only happen when we live as a virtuous people. If there is insecurity or strife anywhere in the world, it will spread — sometimes like wildfire — and our peace and security will become jeopardized. This is the same as the saying, “If one person is happy, everyone is happy. If one person is discontent, everyone is discontent.”
We can do it, my friends. We have the wherewithal to change a person’s life for the better. If we make one extra person happy, one extra person secure, one extra person confident, that person will change the life of another and those two will change the lives of others and on and on and on.
Happy Independence Day. Live as if you truly deserve to be independent and free!
FAITH ACTION: Pray for our nation, that we find a way to bring God and His virtues back into our society more and more each day.