SCRIPTURE:  …Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:2-4 NIV

QUOTE: Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.
 – George Washington, 1^st President of the United States

THOUGHT: Equating virtue with happiness by the founders of our country is clear. But what Washington calls “the great pillars of human happiness” and Jefferson calls “the pursuit of happiness,” is lost to us in a culture of narcissism.

Virtue requires self-limitation. The “pursuit of happiness” for the founders meant something like “freedom to pursue the good” rather than “freedom to do whatever I want.” The first makes a free society possible and the second destroys it.

God has a plan for human flourishing, and Philippians 2 says it involves unity around what is good and right while at the same time pushing out selfish ambition and conceit – self-limiting to clear a path for what has been called “the mother of all virtues,” humility, and the kind of happiness that Washington and Jefferson were talking about.

Can we rebuild a country like that?

PRAYER: Oh God, mend our every flaw, and confirm the soul of our nation in self-control and its liberty in law.