Share what we’ve ultimately been freed from …

Freedom. It’s the focal point of Independence Day celebrations across the country every year. But is our freedom won more than 200 years ago the only type of freedom there is to celebrate this July? Not by a long shot.

When we head for our cars after a great firework finale or watch our last sparkler sputter out, why not shift the focus of our celebration to a freedom that we will enjoy for eternity? The freedom from our sins through Jesus Christ.

Today, we have the glorious freedom in Christ that empowers us to avoid many choices that could lead us to unnecessary pain and suffering. We are free to love and serve others with the love of Christ instead of pursing our own desires.

Even though we might think we’re not too bad by our own standards, we learn from Scripture that we are lost without the saving grace of Jesus.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. —Romans 3:23–24 NIV

Unfortunately, we fall away from God’s mark each and every day … it comes quite naturally to us. Without the freedom afforded to us through Christ, we’ll keep falling onto the paths that lead to hardship.

And how wonderful is it to be delivered from the very thing that stumbles those who haven’t heard the Good News?

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! … that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sin against them. —2 Corinthians 5:17, 19a NIV

We are now free to do God’s work as He gives us the strength to avoid the distractions and pitfalls that we once couldn’t avoid falling into. It’s as though our spiritual lives are now filled with health food instead of junk food.

Just like junk food, sin can seem good in the here and now, but its harmful effects cannot be escaped down the road. And like health food, God’s freedom from our old ways has long-term benefits – an eternity with Him!

Of course, this isn’t to say that those freed by Christ are sinless. We all struggle, as only Jesus lived a perfect life. But He has already won the battle for us and cleansed us so that we’re as pure as snow before God.

So, this Independence Day, let’s celebrate the freedom we have in Christ by holding onto Him and His promise.

Let’s rejoice in our freedom that can never be taken away this July as we’re looking up into an explosive and brilliant evening sky!