Fireworks, cookouts, patriotic music, red, white and blue! It's July, so we must be talking about celebrating our country's Independence Day. What great memories I have from my childhood of July 4th celebrations. My family usually had a cookout with a group of other families. Every year, we'd gather at the lake to swim, fish a little, laugh a lot, and always have a cookout. There were lots of us, and we'd consume large quantities of hotdogs, hamburgers, potato salad, watermelon, homemade ice cream, brownies - you get the idea. After dark, we'd end our celebration with fireworks that the dads very carefully set off. Sometimes we'd play patriotic music and swirl our sparklers in time to the music. These are wonderful memories of celebrating our country's independence and the glories of living in a free land. To keep that in perspective, turn on the news and watch the struggles going on around the world and then thank God for the freedom we have here in the USA. (Let's all go thank someone who currently is or previously has been in the military as well.)

As wonderful as it is to live in a land where freedom reigns, I am reminded that even more importantly my true freedom is found in Christ. Hear the words of Christ as he quoted from the Book of Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed." (Luke 4:18, Isaiah 61:1-2) Christ came to set me free - free from worry and guilt and bitterness, free from past hurts that bind, free from shame for wrong decisions made, freedom from the fear of death and freedom from the burden of sin. Christ wants me and you, to leave our burdens at the foot of the cross and walk away free. (Think Dying Moments here!) That's way better than hotdogs and hamburgers, fireworks and patriotic music!

A quick internet search on "freedom in Christ" brought me to a long and inspiring list of Scriptures. I can't share them all, but here are just a few:

Romans 8:1-2

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."  

2 Corinthians 3:17

Ephesians 3:12

So, my fellow Emmaus brothers and sisters, as you celebrate our nation's independence and the blessings of freedom, give thanks again to God in Heaven for the freedom we have in Christ, and maybe try to point someone lost in the right direction so that they too may find their freedom in Christ.

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36