Independence Day

On Independence Day we celebrate with family and friends with cookouts, boating on lakes, watching ballgames at parks, water games, swimming, fishing, and lastly the biggest fireworks to end the night. All of this happens because we defeated the British to become a free nation in 1776. Free though comes with a price, and it was not cheap! Men and women sacrificed their lives even through current times to afford us this freedom to celebrate Independence Day! We are not completely free because we are still under control to our government of the United States of America. Most importantly we are all in bondage to sin.

Sin separates us from God. God hates sin therefore we will be punished in hell to and separated from God forever. God still loves us even though we have sinned against Him and we are a mess! Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves to cover themselves after they sinned, but it was not good enough. So God killed the first animal and used the skins to properly cover Adam and Eve from their nakedness. Well God did the same for all of us. By killing His own Son Jesus to cover our sins properly so we can be with Him forever. We experience this by believing in the name of God's son, Jesus Christ.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,...Ephesians 2:8

It is only by grace through faith in Jesus that God has provided this true freedom from the bondage of sin. What a true Independence Day! God paid a ransom we could not pay ourselves. Do we celebrate this freedom like we do on the 4th of July? Why don't we?

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

let us kneel before theLord, our Maker! Psalm 95:6

Let us all read Psalm 47, 95, 96 together this week. True Independence Day is the day Jesus gave His life to pay the ransom for our sin we could not pay on our own. God loves us so much that He gave us His very best! Let us celebrate the true meaning of freedom! Guess what? It wasn't cheap! It came at a great cost!

Love in Christ Jeff