Its Fundamental Purpose

While at church on Sunday, I heard a great phrase that spoke to my heart. Our pastor, speaking about sharing the gospel of Christ with others, said that "a light, by its very nature, wants to shine and when you cover the light, it is not serving its fundamental purpose." Being the geek that I am (and proud of it, frankly), I looked up the word "fundamental" in the dictionary when I got home. The first meaning says "serving as, or being an essential part of, a foundation or basis." This, to me, was mind-boggling. We, as Christians, are called to share the gospel of Christ but it is not just something we're asked to do.....it's it an essential part of our make up. It is the foundation of our Christian DNA.
The sermon spoke alot on how we should share what we've learned about Christ. The great thing about it is that it's NOT a "you must be an expert" kind of sharing. Knowing about Christ and sharing about His great gift to us is a "learn as you go" experience. God will provide the words to you in the time that you need them. God will provide every answer that you need when you're sharing His word. The best thing of all, though, is that God provides us with the ultimate resource to look to when we're uncertain about an answer....The Bible. He provided us a book (with many translations) and thousands of wonderful books written by amazing Christian authors to guide us through his word. He provides us answers to our big decisions, our crises, and so on and so forth.
I take this a step further, though, and say that we should practice this same thought process as Americans. Our nation was founded on the principles described in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Our history textbooks (and the like) have been tainted by those that don't want us to know about the "bad events" in our history because they want to convince us that the government can (and always has) resolved all of our issues. I do think that the government plays its part but I also think that our nation was founded by people who understood real freedom. They understood that "We the People" should have the final word on decisions instead of "We the Government." We elect our officials who are making choices, good and bad, to govern our state and our country but the fact is that we have a voice. I would be defeating my fundamental purpose as an American if I didn't say to read up on history, real history. Read about the mistakes our country (and other countries) have made in the past. We are a nation based on freedom and more of our freedoms slip away daily. Let your voice be heard.
I would ultimately say that I am starting to understand my fundamental purpose a little more every day. I am trying to read and learn from my Bible, real history research, and so on and so forth. I am thankful for every single lesson God has taught me and for the men and women that have worked so hard to make our country great. We can be great again and our nation can be great.