I hope you had a positive, patriotic experience yesterday celebrating the historically recognized birthday of the United States of America. We are 249 years old! It is always a meaningful holiday that provides an opportunity to celebrate the many freedoms which make our country unique and strong.

What might we consider the most important freedoms we have? Many are rightfully designed to give us the ability to do something, such as speak, worship, or assemble as we choose. But we shouldn’t limit our awareness of freedom to only a Bill of Rights or Constitutional perspective.

As a person of faith, there are freedoms that go beyond the civic that give us additional confidence and comfort if we employ them in our outlook and practice of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These are freedoms from something. They are the freedoms that set us free!

In John 8:31-36, Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So, if the son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (NRSV)

Christ offers an invitation to the fullness of freedom. We all sin, thus we need to seek the fullness of the truth of Christ by continuing in his word so that we, and our neighbors can be freed from sin. Without this freedom, we are likely to commit sinful acts that will rob others of their freedoms. They will be subject to our prejudices, our aggressions, our attitudes and judgements that would make us believe we are better than someone else because we believe their sins to be greater than our own. Thus, we become slaves to sin.

As we make plans to honor the Sabbath on Sunday, I hope we carry with us the echoes of Independence Day celebrations. Let us also celebrate that we live in-dependence of God’s grace sent from the Son, whose words, deeds, sacrifices, and revelations give us insight to Divine Truth, by and through we will be freed from slavery to sin, to experience and share the fullness of faith’s freedom!

Forward in Faith!