Naturally, the observance of our Independence Day brings about thoughts of freedom.  What it means and what the cost has been for our country to maintain it for ourselves and for others.  Phillips Brooks once observed that “No man in this world attains to freedom from any slavery except by entrance into some higher servitude.  There is no such thing as an entirely free man.”  His words echo so true to those who understand freedom the way our God has designed it.  Ultimately we have the freedom to choose, the choice between following God or the world…  Both our Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul addressed the issue of freedom.

Jesus stated that those who abide in His word “will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32)  We abide in the word of Jesus when we live it.  When it becomes a part of us to the point that all we do finds its source in Jesus’ teachings.  In abiding in the word of Christ, we make ourselves slaves to Him.  So really what we have done is transferred allegiance from one master to another.  But Jesus says we’ll be free, but what have we been freed from?  Paul calls it freedom from the “law of sin and death” in Romans 8:2.  Sin and death entered the world through Adam, but through His atoning sacrificial death on Calvary’s cross, Jesus frees those abiding in His word from sin and its penalty of eternal separation from God (2 Thessalonians 1:9). 

The ultimate freedom we have from God goes back to the “freedom to choose” who or what we will serve.   Paul encourages followers of Christ with these words in Romans 6:22, “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.” (NASB)  What has been your choice thus far?  Have you chosen the freedom from death’s sting or are you still dead in your sins.  I pray that you have chosen to fight for the freedom that comes from serving the true and living God!  May He bless you in fighting your “good fight of faith!”

Copyright © 2007, Nolan P. Rutter