Land of the Free
“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If you continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31-32
Freedom, liberty, independence–we are privileged to live in a country where we are free to pursue our desires and dreams. We can still worship God without government interference, but there are those who would like to stifle the free expression of our beliefs. Some desire to make our every move accountable to some government bureaucrat. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 13:4 that leaders are God’s ministers to do good. They are supposed to be “revengers to execute wrath upon those who do evil” and certainly not to promote evil. Wow. How far have we strayed from that admonition! In my opinion, there are several who are campaigning in political circles who are running on a platform of evil. When our leaders and aspiring leaders are Satan’s tools for lawlessness, Christians must take a stand for righteousness. We don’t have to back off thinking that there is nothing we can do to stem the ever encroaching limits on our freedoms that folks died to preserve. We have the strongest line of defense beginning with prayer and then the courage to openly live what we believe. I have read the last chapter of the Book–Satan and his followers are the losers.
The greatest freedom of all is that which is found in completely surrendering one’s life to Jesus Christ. In Paul’s letter to Philemon, he identifies himself as a “prisoner” of Jesus Christ. To be free and to be a prisoner seems like a paradox. Until we know Christ and claim Him as Lord and Savior, we are in bondage to sin, but when He comes into our hearts, we are made free from sin and become servants of righteousness (Roman 8:18). We who are servants of Christ and follow in His footsteps get upset when we see all the lies and deceptions going on in our nation, but we have to remember that those who promote evil are servants of sin. They are living and behaving in their inherent sin nature. Paul wrote in Romans 1:21 that those people who are so far out into their sin do not recognize God for who He is and thus don’t even realize how evil their thoughts and actions are. Their darkened heart refuses to let them see the sin which has permeated their lives. They are in a state of extreme bondage and do not even know it. Until they allow the light of Christ to shine upon their hearts and expose their sin, they will continue on the road to despair and misery held captive by the evil one.
While we must stand for truth and righteousness in any way that we can, these folks don’t need our judgment; they need our prayers. Perhaps some day some of them will come to the knowledge of the truth, and when they do, they will know what true freedom really is. On this day that we set aside to celebrate our nation as one that is free, let us thank God also for the freedom that is found in serving a true and living Savior, Jesus Christ. Our nation may not always be one of freedom, but our freedom in Christ in assured for all eternity.