Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.The Second Sentence from the Declaration of Independence

Last week my family spent time in Colonial Williamsburg and Yorktown. This week, on the heels of that vacation and of the birthday of our nation, I want to take a few days and look at this sentence from our Declaration of Independence.

This sentence is way too formal for me so here is my paraphrase: "We think it is obvious that nobody is better than anybody else and that God created us to have a good life, to be free, and to be happy."

So is it obvious that everyone is just as important as the next person?

2 Corinthians 5:15 says, "And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." The Scripture doesn't say that Christ died for some or for most or for the wealthy or for the educated. It says He died for ALL. That indicates to me that everybody is created equal in His eyes -- otherwise He wouldn't have died for EVERYbody.

Did God really create us or did we just happen?

Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."  God is, of course, talking to Jeremiah. But this verse can be applied to all of us. He created us in our mothers' bellies. He knew us. Before we were born He had a wonderful plan for our lives. ALL of us.

Lord, help us to understand that you made us just the way you wanted us to be and that we are all very important to you. Help us to treat each other with the same love that you have for us.

To be continued . . . . 


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