SCRIPTURE: He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 NIV

QUOTE: “Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.  He therefore is the truest friend of the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue.” – Samuel Adams, Founding Father, Architect of American Republicanism

THOUGHT: We aren’t universally corrupt in our manners yet, but I could make a case for that being a very real endpoint for this tinderbox culture. 

When the justice, mercy and humility God requires go missing, a wise Constitution and wise law make no difference says Founding Father Samuel Adams. The end result could morph into a society where happiness and liberty can no longer be a by product — take, for example, communist China, whose most recent regime of 70 years is responsible for the untimely deaths of more than 65 million people says an article written by the editorial board of The Epoch Times, November 25, 2020. It states flatly, “The CCP actively cultivates murderous sentiment. During the Cultural Revolution, teenage girls readily beat their teachers to death as part of Mao’s ideological crusade.” 

The writers (most of whom escaped oppressive regimes) continue, “Every revolution and insurrection has been introduced by mobs that had no scruples, no shame, and no compassion.”

We’ve seen such mobs and we know now that their intent is not racial justice or harmony or even freedom from oppression. Their motive is, in fact, opening the door to revolution and oppressive government. 

We who love both freedom and justice must heed the words of Micah — and of Samuel Adams too: He, therefore is the truest friend of the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue.

PRAYER: Oh Lord of the Ages, you have set us in this time and place for a reason. May we love this liberty you have allowed us, promoting a passion for both justice and mercy, walking in humility with you as our God and friend.