It seems like it wasn't very long ago at all that we still had snow on the ground. Now, the 4th of July is right around the corner and brings with it all sorts of festivities. From the backyard cookouts to the community fireworks, there's plenty of fanfare for the 4th. The fanfare seems appropriate when you take a moment to think about what Independence Day is all about. It's one day when we, as an entire nation, set everything else aside and just celebrate the freedoms that are ours as citizens of the United States of America. We celebrate that we have the freedom of religion, unabridged free speech, and the right to participate in the political process. These are wonderful blessings from God, and I hope that you take some time to appreciate them as our country celebrates this holiday.
While these freedoms are blessings from God, He has given us freedoms that are far more significant than those we enjoy as United States citizens. In Romans 7 the apostle Paul speaks of the freedom we have in Christ:
"The law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? . . . 4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code."
We have freedom from the consequences and dominion of sin. When we look at our lives and how we fail to measure up to God's perfect law, that makes us, by nature, slaves. Slaves to the law that fear the death that it condemns us to. Thanks be to God that we "died to the law through the body of Christ." Jesus conquered sin and death on our behalf. Now, we don't have to live in fear. Instead, we are free to live our lives to honor God out of thanks rather than terror. This freedom is even more important than the earthly freedoms we enjoy. So, no matter what your holiday plans are, give thanks to God for the freedom that he has given to us in Jesus.
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