On this fourth of July we celebrate the independence of our nation. We celebrate the fight it took to give the first people to call themselves Americans a fresh start in a land where opportunity is everywhere. We celebrate all the good things in life with friends and family and we pause to say thank you to those who have protected our way of life and put their lives on the line and made the ultimate sacrifice for us. On this Independence Day I want to celebrate all of those things, but I also want to take a moment and praise God for the freedom he gave us on the cross.
My time in the Word and prayer life have been pretty erratic over the past semester and I honestly forgot how much I needed it and how much prayer and scripture nourish my soul, so to get back on track, I committed to simply read scripture and prayer journal every night for 21 days. (I'm told that it takes 21 days to form a habit. I made it 20 days on my challenge before missing one...typical right..) Over the past three weeks I have been in conversation with God pretty consistently and I was blown away by what an incredible listener God is and how I often bring a much harder line of judgement on myself than God does. I was working through a few things and talking to different people about their perspectives on the issue I was working through and I didn't like any of their answers. Every night I would journal about my struggles and dialogue with God. I never received a gift wrapped answer. but what I did receive is peace.
I write this message on Independence Day, because God is the ultimate liberator and the ultimate giver of grace and forgiver. For "just at the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly die. But get this! God showed his love for us like this-when were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:6-8.
Do you get it? There wasn't anything we did to earn this, God knew exactly what he was doing when he climbed up on that cross and he hung there not a super hero with his cape fluttering in the wind, but as our best friend laying down his life for us, jumping in front of the bullet that we couldn't stop. Just as we are the recipients of the blessings of our forefathers and their hard work and sacrifice to build this land of opportunity for us, we are also the heirs of Christ and though we did nothing to deserve his grace, he gives independence from sin and addiction to all who come to him. Happy Independence Day ya'll.
An evolving story of trying to follow Jesus in the midst of brokenness and an attempt to invite others on the pursuit of abundant life with mixed random bits of frat humor and brief moments of wit.
