This July 4th is the annual Celebration of our country being founded in 1776. It also marks 250 years since that time. In the past 250 years a lot has happened including in the United States and in the world. There has been good but there also has been bad as well.

We still remain the with the most freedom on earth despite to intrusion of various laws and restrictions over the years. One aspect that we remain free in is the freedom of speech. Though there are forces and people that still try to limit this and try every day. We still have the broadest freedoms than any other country. Sadly at times that freedom can be used for bad as well as good.

This time of year reminds me of another Independence Day. They day Jesus Christ died for us on the Cross freeing us from our sins. Most people do not realize that you end up serving one of two masters. One being Jesus Christ, the other is sin. Its either one or the other.

We even as Christians still live in a sinful world and we too can commit sins. In Jesus Christ our sins are forgiven because He took it upon himself to pay the price for what we owe. It took on sin so we can be freed from the very death he suffered that we deserve.

What does freedom from sin look like? It is the covering of our transgressions, past present and even future if we believe in Him. In Christ we are also freed from the guilt of them because he does not want us to remain in them even at that level.

It is the knowing of the very things that the very things that take away from our lives have a purpose and an end that is better than the beginning. When we see a need for repentance we repent and change. It walks out of the prison of sin to being free from that sin.

Many people I know who have went through drug and alcohol rehabilitation feel the freedom of being free from that destruction in their lives. Though sometimes it calls them back to it, they know they have some place to go to be free of it through Jesus. Someone who helps them overcome and be free of it no matter how many times it takes.  

Those who are chronically sick or terminally ill in Christ also know that where it ends is only the beginning. In Him believers know they have eternal life and what they suffer now is only a temporary condition in all respects.

For the average man in Jesus Christ it’s know that their care is in God in every aspect based on a deep and powerful love he has for us.

Romans 5 in the Bible shows us what this freedom looks like:

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Have a happy and meaningful Independence Day!

In Christ always,                                                                                            

Steve Koenig

Lake Shore Fellowship