Freedom

"So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed in Him, 'If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.'"  (John 8:31-32, NASB)

We like to think of freedom on the 4th of July.  It is a natural thing to remember all of the freedoms that we have this time of year.  But when you get right down to it, we are not free.  We have liberties that have been bought for us with a price, but liberties are bound in the confines of the society that exercises them.  We do not understand real freedom.  We are always enslaved to something.  We are enslaved to time.  We are enslaved to the confines of our background and our families, which we cannot be free from.  We cannot be free from past choices.  And even those choices we will make in the future are not free in the truest sense of the word, but rather influenced by a large variety of factors. 

That is why when it comes to this national celebration I like to stop and think about the verse above.  We CAN have true freedom, but it does not come through the sacrifice of soldiers, but through a servant who died for you and for me.  Those of us who place our faith and trust in Him are truly free.  We are free because we are bound by nothing except our love for the one who paid the ultimate price of our freedom.  We are free because we know the truth.  And we are free because we willingly commit ourselves to the Word of God.  It seems counterintuitive that we would be free by committing to obedience but that is precisely what the Scriptures tell us.  When we commit our lives to Christ we find freedom - true freedom.  The kind of freedom God has in Himself.  This is true freedom, and it cannot be bought except with the precious blood of Jesus. 

So this week, remember the search for true freedom.  And remind someone of the freedom that you have found in Christ!