America’s freedoms are under attack – that’s the warning given by some of the candidates for the next presidential election. The Bill of Rights guarantees certain freedoms and liberties to all Americans, and without these first ten amendments to the nation’s Constitution, some say, the nation would rapidly descend into tyranny.

For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 4:8

Liberty, however, always comes with conditions: you must treasure it, defend it and use it responsibly. In Galatians, Paul urges Christians not to use liberty as a license. It does not mean that everyone can do what is right in his own eyes (as they did in Judges 21:25), as that would lead to eventual anarchy. “‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up,” is the caution of I Corinthians 10:23.

As Peter Marshall, former chaplain of the U.S. Senate, once prayed before that chamber, “Teach us that liberty is not only to be loved but also to be lived. Help us see that our liberty is not the right to do as we please, but the opportunity to please to do what is right.” Make that your own prayer today – and your intercession for those who are officially charged with protecting America’s freedoms.

Recommended Reading: Galatians 5:1-14