Freedom

The 4th of July is more than just another holiday, it is a reminder of the great cost we have paid and continue to pay for the privilege of living in this great nation the United States of America. Each year my family watches the movie “The Patriot” with Mel Gibson on the 4th. We watch it for a few reasons; it is a very good movie, the acting is superb, the story is worth telling and re-telling and it is a good reminder of the price which was paid for you and me to live in “the land of the free and the home of the brave”.

In the movie, Gabriel takes the torn and tattered flag from the belongings of a dead soldier and as he does another soldier tells him “don’t bother, it’s a lost cause”, to which Gabriel considers the statement, but takes the flag and begins the process of mending it. At the end of the movie when his father, Benjamin is going through his dead sons belongings he finds the worn and tattered flag which has been completely mended. It had been sewn back together with new tread and an occasional piece of new cloth. It was a representation of all they had been fighting to achieve. As the father looked at the flag which so many had died for he decides that this nation, this cause is bigger than him and worth staying the course. The sacrifice of so men and women demands that those who are living continue the fight for freedom. Freedom comes with great cost and sacrifice. The fight for freedom is not over; it is a fight that must be fought every day so that those who come after us can have the same opportunity and responsibility.

So what does that mean for you and me today? You will have to answer that for yourself, but as for me I am forever thankful for all those who died to make this nation free or to keep this nation free. I am reminded that with freedom comes responsibility. I must live in such a way as to be respectful of the great price that was paid for me to walk, talk, work, and worship in freedom.

As people who live in freedom we have been given great blessings. With great blessings also come responsibilities. You and I must live in such a way that we can share the freedom and blessings which God has given us and so many have died for.

So today, I am thankful. Thankful that I live in a nation which great men and women have sacrificed their lives so that you and I can be free and I am thankful for Jesus Christ who made an eternal sacrifice so that you and I could be free from sin and have a life for all eternity with the Father. What a blessing it is to be a Christian living in the freest nation in the world. The question is what will I do with the freedom I have as a citizen of the United States of America and what will I do with the freedom I have in Christ Jesus? The blood of the Many and the blood of the One and Only demand that I do something as a citizen and a Christian. To do nothing would make their death meaningless.

Father God, thank you for watching over this great nation. May we be a people who do not take this opportunity of freedom lightly. May we live up to the expectations of those who have died to give us the responsibility of freedom.

Love God. Go Love Others.