Daily Devotional

July is when we celebrate our nation’s birthday, our independence. We make quite a big deal about independence, and liberty and freedom in this country, especially in July. But why is that? Why do we as Americans think so highly of freedom, and make such a big deal about emphasizing it? If you look around at other similar nations to us you might think that we all have freedom now, that we are all basically the same. And on the surface there is some truth to that. However upon closer scrutiny of their core laws, constitutions, or other guiding documents shows that the liberty we celebrate in our country is not codified in their laws, meaning it can easily be altered and taken away at the whim of the ruling government.

So what does this all have to do with this passage in Galatians? Well, before we get to that, I think it shows there really is still something for us to celebrate in this country. For all its failings, for all the sin that seems to abound around us, we truly are blessed to live in a free society, under a freedom that is codified and cannot be taken away so easily from the government we elect. But celebrate as we should, we also need to focus on what we do with that freedom. As stated in the passage above that liberty does not exist so we can simply carry on as we might and engage in all manner of sin, by no means. As a result of our freedom, we are called to serve one another in love and good deeds.
 
Just as we have freedom in Christ, we are not to use that freedom to go around sinning as we would like, but rather to use that freedom to make ourselves more like Christ. And the freedom we have here in America affords us a tremendous opportunity to share the eternal freedom we have with others. When we think about our independence, remember that there are people in countries where they are forbidden to worship or speak about Jesus as they please. Imagine them seeing us, with the freedom to worship and share the good news with whomever we wish, and yet being silent about the hope that is in us. This July let’s remember and celebrate the freedom we have in this country and take advantage of that freedom by sharing the ultimate freedom that exists in Christ with those around us.

New King James Version (NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.