Fourth of July.....
Always a lot of memories come to me on this day.
I can see two little boy's at the end of our driveway, with their friends, shooting off fireworks. Roman candles and bottle rockets lighting up the evening sky. Laughter and sweaty faces turning toward us proclaiming..."Mom! Dad! Did you see how high that one went?"
There was always something cooked up on the grill. Maybe a burger or two....some chicken....didn't matter, it was always good.
Yesterday was another opportunity for me to reflect on the goodness of God and the blessings that my family has received from Him. I guess the question I ask the most is "Why?" Why me. Why this family. Oh, don't get me wrong...we've had our fair share of life-storms and hard times, but through it all there has always been the presence of God. If I could say anything, the lesson that has come through the clearest is that He is a God that is faithful even when we are not.
As I've gotten older, I see some things that my youth would not allow me to see.
That really, in this life, nothing is more important than following hard after Jesus. Such is more than going to church. It's more than reading a chapter a day. It is an invisible drive to see what's next...what is God going to do today? It's that voice inside that urges you to give away your last dollar because you see someone in need. An argument always ensues such a thought. "But God...this is my last dollar and I don't get paid for three more days!" Every point I throw up is met with..."Are you going to obey me." I've had this argument so many times, and I've seen God's provision come to my family after being obedient that I don't even try and use it anymore. I simply obey.
All day yesterday I kept thinking about the word freedom.
Seems to be a word that is bandied about on the Fourth.
People have grabbed this word and twisted the meaning of it.
Now days some people thinks that freedom means that we live in a country where we can do whatever we want to do.
We have freedom.
To me, freedom means that we've been given the right to do what we OUGHT to do, not what we want to do. That I have a Kingdom obligation to God.
Galatians 5:1 reads "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
The freedom that Christ has offered us is a life of "being"....not doing.
We have been set free from the tyranny and rule of sin (that eventually ends in eternal separation from God) and have been called to a life that is defined by a change in our very nature and character. For too long, I thought that Christianity was a life of rules and regulations. An existence that was made up of commandments and a God who was just waiting for me to get out of line. Nothing could be further from the truth.
God has called me....
God has saved me...
God has empowered me with His Holy Spirit to become the person that He intended me to be. In other words, I expend myself on allowing the Holy Spirit to produce His fruit (Galatians 5:22-24). The doing that we seem to think defines us a followers of Jesus is done so because of rules and commandments. If I am being the person God intends me to be...the doing will come natural. I will "DO" because I want to...not because I have to.
The verse from Galatians calls for us to "Stand Firm"....No matter what may be going on around us...we are to not be moved. Such posture, especially during hard times, is a testimony to the faithfulness of God and the freedom we have been given as His children. I can stand firm when the wheels are coming off because I can trust God.
I can stand firm when life's flood waters seek to wash me away because God is faithful.
I can stand firm because here in this unshakable place I have real freedom. I do not want to be like the ones who Moses delivered out of Egypt, who, when the first signs of trouble came, wanted to run back and put on the yoke of slavery. I've been set free and I choose never to return to that old life again.
Freedom.....
How sweet the sound of that word.
God on you...
mbb
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