A FREE PEOPLE'S SUICIDE

“What the wicked fears will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous [for the blessings of God] will be granted.”Proverbs 10:24 AMP

My friend David Lane has invited me to dinner in Washington, D.C., with Os Guinness - an evening I anticipate with gratitude and great interest.

Though descended from Ireland's Guinness brewing family, Os was born in China, where his parents served as missionaries. He was named for Oswald Chambers, the Christian teacher whose wife faithfully preserved his teachings in shorthand. After Chambers' untimely death in 1917, she edited and published those notes, including the beloved devotional My Utmost for His Highest.

Guinness is an Oxford-educated British author, social critic, theologian, and philosopher who loves America and now makes his home in Virginia. He does not love America sentimentally or uncritically. He loves her enough to diagnose her failures honestly and to call her people back to the principles that make ordered liberty possible.

His books and public remarks have repeatedly challenged me to think more critically about my nation, yet also to esteem it more deeply. He reminds us that citizenship is not a spectator sport. Those who love America must accept responsibility for her moral and spiritual condition.

I have never met Os Guinness in person, so I am looking forward to an evening of listening, learning, and considering what faithfulness requires of us in this moment.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“So reliance on the Constitution alone and on structures and laws is folly. But worse, the forgotten part of the Framers’ answer is so central and powerful that to ignore it is either willful or negligent. What the Framers believed should complement and reinforce the Constitution and the separation of powers is the distinctive moral ecology that is at the heart of ordered liberty. Tocqueville called it, THE HABITS OF THE HEART. I call it THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE OF FREEDOM - the cultivation and the transmission of the conviction that freedom requires virtue, which requires faith, which requires freedom and so on, like the recycling triangle, ad infinitum. In short, the Constitution should be supported and sustained by the faith, character and virtue of the entire citizenry, which comprises its MORAL CONSTITUTION, or HABITS OF THE HEART - the real, complete and essential bulwark of American liberty. A republic grounded only in a consensus forged of calculation and competing self-interests can never last.” Os Guinness, A Free People’s Suicide, pp. 99-100

The Constitution is indispensable, but it cannot preserve liberty by itself. Laws and institutions must be sustained by a people of faith, character, and virtue. Freedom requires virtue. Virtue requires faith. And faith must be free. When that moral foundation crumbles, liberty eventually collapses with it.

PRAYING THROUGH PROVERBS:

“What the wicked fears will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.” Proverbs 10:24 NASB

The righteous fear God and no one else. The wicked take their eyes off God and soon find themselves fearing everyone and everything else.

FEAR:

False

Expectations

Appearing

Real

TEN PRAYER POINTS FOR AMERICA:

Freedom is sustained not only by constitutions and institutions, but by the habits of the heart practiced by ordinary citizens. Let us pray specifically - and then live as part of the answer to our prayers.

1. Personal repentance and integrity.

2. Faithful homes and families.

3. Courageous and healthy churches.

4. Wise and honorable public leaders.

5. Equal justice and respect for the rule of law.

6. Truth and character in education.

7. Honesty in media and public speech.

8. Protection for life and the vulnerable.

9. Religious liberty and fearless witness.

10. Responsible citizenship and spiritual awakening.

PRAYER OF THE DAY:

God, give us the desires of Your heart. By Your Holy Spirit, empower us to live with fearless and faithful hearts for You. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

The prayerless are hopeless. The prayerful are fearless. So we pray.

“Lord, teach us to pray.” - Luke 11:1

TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!

Dr. Gary Miller