Too Light a Thing: Remembering the Price of Freedom
Freedom has a strange problem: when it works, it becomes background noise. In this GodNAmerica message, I return to Thomas Paine’s warning from 1776 and connect it to Scripture to make one central point—freedom is a gift with a cost, and it has to be stewarded. The goal here is simple: remember the price, refuse apathy, and live with the kind of gratitude and virtue that keeps both faith and liberty from drifting.
I open with Paine’s line that still lands like a hammer: “What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly.” When a people forget what it took to gain freedom, they start treating it like a disposable privilege instead of a hard-won trust. Paine called freedom a “celestial article,” and his argument is that something so valuable will never be cheap—if we don’t pay attention to that reality, we eventually lose what we stopped valuing.
In this message, I describe a “softer kind of tyranny” that doesn’t show up with marching boots and crowns. It shows up as apathy—the slow fade of gratitude, vigilance, prayer, and moral seriousness. Apathy doesn’t usually announce itself. It looks like comfort without remembrance, rights without responsibility, and plenty without reverence. It’s the drift that happens when a republic is treated as if it can run forever without virtue.
That drift is not new. In Deuteronomy 8:11–14, God warns Israel not to forget Him when life becomes full—when they eat and are satisfied, build houses, and settle in. The danger is that prosperity can produce spiritual amnesia: hearts lift up, gratitude shrinks, and people forget who delivered them. In this message, I connect that warning to the fragility of freedom itself—spiritual freedom and national freedom can both be lost when people forget the One who grants and guards it.
From there, I point to the founders’ emphasis on virtue. This message quotes John Adams: the Constitution was made “only for a moral and religious people” and is inadequate for any other. The point in context is not a claim that documents save souls. It’s a recognition that liberty depends on self-governed citizens, and self-government requires moral restraint. When people lack the internal habits that govern impulses—honesty, courage, self-control, and responsibility—external control grows. In other words, a vacuum of virtue invites a heavier hand of government.
To make the picture vivid, I use a simple metaphor: freedom without righteousness is like a ship without a rudder. It can drift for a while, and the drift may even feel like “freedom” because nothing seems to restrain it. But drift is not direction, and it eventually ends in collision. In this message, I describe that collision in everyday signs: more rights claimed, less reverence practiced; louder protests, less earnest prayer; comfort prioritized, character neglected; a flag displayed, but the faith that raised it forgotten.
Then I move from civic freedom to the deepest kind of freedom—the freedom of the soul. I quote 1 Peter 1:18–19 to underline the price: believers are not redeemed by “silver and gold,” but by the “precious blood of Christ.” The logic is deliberate. If salvation costs heaven’s dearest treasure, it should not surprise anyone that freedom on earth also comes at a cost. This is where the message becomes more than a history lesson. It becomes a discipleship issue. Grace is free to receive, but it is not cheap—it was purchased.
That connection sets up a key warning: cheap grace and empty patriotism are cousins. In this message, I reference Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s phrase “cheap grace” to describe a version of Christianity that wants forgiveness without repentance and comfort without obedience. In parallel, “empty patriotism” is a version of national pride that wants benefits without stewardship—symbols without sacrifice, slogans without character, and rights without duties. Both forms of cheapness disconnect gifts from gratitude, and both erode the very thing they claim to celebrate.
The message argues that stewardship is the hinge. A republic, in the founders’ vision, depends on citizens who discipline themselves so the government doesn’t have to. When moral restraint is abandoned, a people trade conviction for convenience and become “subjects again”—not necessarily under a king, but under their own carelessness. I quote Samuel Adams in that same stream: tyrants have an interest in reducing people to ignorance and vice because virtue and knowledge undermine tyranny. Whether one focuses on political history or spiritual formation, the underlying warning is consistent: when virtue collapses, freedom becomes vulnerable.
The message does not stop at diagnosis. It turns to responsibility and service. Galatians 5:13 is quoted for a reason: believers are called to freedom, but not to use freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; instead, freedom should be expressed through love and service. This is how the message defines freedom in practice: not license, but responsibility; not “doing whatever I want,” but choosing what is right when wrong is easier; standing when silence feels safer; serving when self-centeredness looks more convenient.
So what do we do with all of this? In this message, I answer plainly: revival starts with repentance and remembrance. Remember the cost of the cross and the Constitution. Teach children not only to enjoy liberty but to defend it. Thank God daily for freedom to speak, worship, and live without fear, and resolve not to take it lightly again. The closing line frames the whole message: freedom is a holy trust—bought with sacrifice by soldiers who bled for a nation and by a Savior who bled for souls.
Application
Practice active remembrance. Build habits that keep “the cost” in view—history, testimony, and Scripture. A simple rhythm can be: read a short passage (Deuteronomy 8, 1 Peter 1, Galatians 5), reflect on what it says about forgetting, and pray with gratitude.
Name apathy when it shows up. In this message, apathy is treated as a form of tyranny because it weakens vigilance. Watch for signs like entitlement, cynicism, and spiritual numbness. When they appear, respond with repentance rather than denial.
Link rights to responsibilities. Use freedoms in ways that serve others: speak truthfully, worship faithfully, and engage civically with self-control and respect. Freedom is strengthened when it is paired with restraint and love.
Prioritize virtue at home. The message emphasizes teaching the next generation. That can look like consistent discipleship, clear moral expectations, and honest conversations about sacrifice and gratitude.
Trade convenience for conviction in small ways. The message describes how people become “subjects” by trading conviction for convenience. Reverse that pattern with concrete choices: choose integrity when it costs you, serve when it’s inconvenient, and pray when distraction feels easier.
Keep gratitude specific. In this message, I thank God for freedom to speak, worship, and live without fear. Make gratitude concrete—name the freedom, name the Giver, and name how you will steward it today.
TL;DR
Freedom is never free; it is earned, guarded, and passed down at a cost.
Thomas Paine warned that what we obtain cheaply, we tend to value lightly.
Apathy is described as a “soft tyranny” that erodes gratitude, prayer, virtue, and vigilance.
Deuteronomy 8 warns about forgetting God in seasons of abundance; that pattern applies to freedom too.
The message quotes John Adams to emphasize that liberty depends on a moral and religious people.
“Freedom without righteousness” is compared to a rudderless ship—drift that ends in collision.
1 Peter 1 highlights the cost of redemption: the precious blood of Christ, not silver or gold.
Cheap grace and empty patriotism both separate gifts from stewardship and gratitude.
Galatians 5 teaches that freedom is not license; it should be expressed through love and service.
The response is repentance and remembrance: remember the cross and the Constitution, teach children, and live worthy of the trust.
Devotional Questions
Discussion Questions (5)
In this message, freedom is described as something earned and guarded. What examples of “guarding” freedom can happen in everyday family life?
Thomas Paine’s warning is that cheap things are valued lightly. Where do you see signs of “taking freedom for granted” in attitudes, words, or habits?
Deuteronomy 8 warns about forgetting God when life feels comfortable. What helps your family remember God during busy or easy seasons?
Galatians 5:13 says freedom is for serving one another, not indulging the flesh. What does “using freedom to serve” look like at home, at school, or at work?
The message connects virtue with the health of a republic. What virtues (like honesty, self-control, courage, gratitude) feel most important to practice right now, and why?