Freed To Love And Serve

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. (Psalm 33:12 KJV)

I am reminded this Fourth of July morning of Ninevah who after Jonah finally got around to warning them of God's impending judgment repented. They changed their ways and God changed his mind about their destruction.

"And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not." (Jonah 3:10 KJV)

We celebrate our independence from England today. We celebrate our freedoms. Sadly, we do not always understand that our freedoms should not inflict pain and suffering on others. As Christians we are not free to abuse others so that we can get our way.

As we contemplate our freedom today may we all remember that the freedoms that we do have are not to be abused rather they should be used to love and serve God; to love and serve others. Do good! Not evil! Everything that we do does affect others either negatively or positively. We do not live in a vacuum. We live in communities.

Remember the words of our Savior: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:1) We are not all called to actually physically die in someone else's place or to free others. But, many have given their lives. Jesus did. He died so that we might be reconciled to God and to one another. May God help us to live that life of reconciliation in Christ Jesus. We can do that by remembering that everyone has certain freedoms in this country not just you or me. We cannot use our personal perceived freedoms if they are going to harm others in anyway. But, we certainly can use them to make sacrifices of our own egos for the betterment of our neighbors; the country; and the world.

We are free to love and serve God. We are free to love and serve others as Jesus did and as so many others have. What a wonderful world this would be if we could only remember that. As we celebrate Independence Day may God bless us with ears to hear so that we might better understand what changes we might make to make this country and the world an even better place to live for all people.

God grant you safety as you celebrate this weekend.

God's Peace - Pr. J.