Freedom!

Freedom!

The Fourth of July is just around the corner. It’s actually been my favorite holiday to celebrate for as long as I can remember. There is just something special about it. In fact, when Kelley and I first got engaged, we had planned to get married on July 4, 2009, but due to some employment issues for both of us at the time, we had to postpone that date. 

I don’t know if it’s the fireworks, the food, the fact that it’s summer, or a combination of it all that makes it my favorite to celebrate. One of the biggest factors, however, is obvious. It’s celebrating this nation’s birth. Our freedom. This country was founded on the idea of freedom. And while some of that freedom seems to be under attack today, we still stand proudly as a free nation.

We have the freedom to have the jobs that we want, to live where we want, to own whatever type of vehicle that we can afford, to travel around the country, and most importantly to me, to practice religion openly and freely. That’s what the colonists came here from Europe for. Religious freedom.

But it’s not this nation that gives us true freedom. As much as I love this country, and celebrate the freedom we have, our true freedom comes from a relationship with Jesus. Jesus, with His willing sacrifice on the cross, and God bringing Him back to life, set us free from the constraints of sin. We now only have to accept this freedom. And that should be what we celebrate more on the Fourth of July, and every other day of the year, for that matter.

Freedom found in Christ doesn’t necessarily mean that we are free to do absolutely anything that we want, but neither does the freedom that we have as Americans. We are free to choose, but there are consequences for our actions. Jesus set us free from being slaves to sin, but that means we have to walk away from sin. We are still going to mess up and sin, but it means that we are not controlled and constrained by sin anymore. 

I remember when this first clicked for me. It was such a freeing and exhilarating experience. Sin still tries to reign us in and control us, but as Paul reminds us in Galatians 5:13-14; “For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

We are free, but we should not use this freedom to continue to sin. That is Paul’s thrust in Romans 6 when he writes about not continuing to sin so that God’s grace would increase. We are free from sin, and should use that freedom to become more and more like Christ, not continue in our sin. 

If you’ve never realized the freedom that we have found in Christ, I encourage you to dig in and study this idea. It is such a freeing experience. Jesus has not only paid the price for our sins, He has broken the chains that sin has had on our lives. While I remember when I realized this freedom for the first time, it is something I long to help others experience. I’ve had the privilege of helping others make that realization in the past, and I don’t know that there is anything better other than a first time confession of Christ. 

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t celebrate the Fourth of July and the freedom that we have in this country. I’ll still be celebrating that this year. There is nothing wrong with that. There are a lot of great things about this country. But what I am arguing is that we should be celebrating the freedom that we have found in our identity as a Christ follower above and beyond celebrating this country. We are free in this country. But even if those freedoms get stripped away, if you are a Christ follower, then you are still truly free.

Jesus stated in John 8:34-38; “34 Jesus responded, ‘Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free. 37 I know you are descendants of Abraham, but you are trying to kill me because my word has no place among you. 38 I speak what I have seen in the presence of the Father; so then, you do what you have heard from your father.’”