From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

During the national observance of the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor there was a great emphasis on the number of legal immigrants who had left everything behind in their mother countries. Coming to America with nothing but the clothes on their backs, they risked their lives for something they valued and wanted: freedom. They did not take their adopted country’s hard-won freedom for granted.

Their experience is a picture of what we must do when we come to Christ. Christians around the world recognize that we must forsake our allegiance to this world, leave behind all that it offers, and become citizens of a new kingdom—the kingdom of God. His statue of liberty is represented by the cross that Jesus died on to win liberty for the hearts and souls of people around the world.

As long as we are on this earth, we possess dual citizenship as citizens of our nation and the kingdom of God, but our supreme loyalty is to the King of kings and Lord of lords, and the liberty He offers is secured forever.

The Bible says, “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:25).

(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)

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