The Ultimate Freedom To Celebrate: Don’t miss it!

This Fourth of July let’s celebrate our ultimate freedom!

In the United States, people celebrate  the 4th of July with great intentionality and fervor. Annual traditions form around it. Get-togethers are planned from one year to the next. 

Patriotic decorations and clothing, as well as fireworks, are purchased. Plans are made for gatherings and outings. 

What Is Freedom?

But what really is being celebrated?

Freedom from work for an extra day?

Freedom to make lots of money?

Freedom to gather together?

Freedom to help others?

Freedom to access decent healthcare?

Freedom to obtain a good education?

Freedom to vacation regularly?

Freedom to say what you think?

Freedom to worship in a manner you see fit, or not at all?

Freedom to purchase what you’d like?

Freedom to make friends with a person of any race or background?

Freedom from pain?

Freedom to live comfortably?

These are all worthy things to be grateful for, to be sure. In fact, we’d do well to regularly remember and give thanks for the many freedoms we enjoy in this country, only a few of which I listed in the questions above. 

But is the ability to be happy, healthy and wealthy all there is to freedom? Are these the reasons why our Founding Fathers sacrificed so much?

Are these really the reasons to celebrate the independence of the United States of America?

What if liberty means so much more? What if the freedoms we enjoy in this country run much deeper than any physical benefit we can name? 

What if the everyday freedoms we enjoy bubble up and spill over from the greatest freedom of all, freedom from the shackles of sin? 

The freedoms we enjoy in the United States of America bubble up and spill over from the greatest freedom of all, the ultimate freedom, freedom from the shackles of sin? Click To Tweet

The Ultimate Freedom

The liberty we celebrate on the 4th of July has spiritual roots. At the core of all our freedoms lies spiritual salvation.

At the core of all our freedoms lies spiritual salvation. Because of the life-saving gift from our Savior, we can celebrate and be thankful for the physical freedoms we enjoy in this country. Click To Tweet

Jesus Christ sets us free spiritually. He frees us from the shackles of our sins. He frees us from eternal damnation. 

Because of this life-saving gift from our Savior, we can celebrate and be thankful for the physical freedoms we enjoy in this country.

Forget or ignore this ultimate freedom we have in Christ and no other freedom matters! Apart from Him, nothing matters. 

After all, what benefit is there in living in the land of the free if you are spiritually dead?

Many of the Founding Fathers and early leaders acknowledged this. 

“A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest while we are building ideal monuments of Renown and Bliss here we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven.” James Madison, 4th U.S. President

 “God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?” Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.S. President, Drafter and Signer of the Declaration of Independence

“The right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave… These may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutes of the great Law Giver and Head of the Christian Church, which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament.” Samuel Adams: Rights of the Colonists, November 20, 1772

Never Forget Why Freedoms Matter

We should definitely be celebrating the freedoms we have in this country. We should absolutely express our thanks for the blessings we enjoy and those who helped secure it. 

But may we never forget why those freedoms matter. Because we have freedom from our sins, we can celebrate the liberties we enjoy in every other facet of our lives!

Miss that truth and walk shackled, enslaved in a far worse manner, no matter which country you live in. 

Because we have freedom from our sins, we can celebrate the liberties we enjoy in every other facet of our lives! Click To Tweet

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1 (NIV)

Reflections: What’s your favorite way to celebrate the 4th of July (or your country’s national celebration)? In that celebration, do you make a conscious point to acknowledge your spiritual freedom in addition to the physical freedoms you enjoy?

Going on 5 years of counting and I’m nearing 5,000 gifts in Ann Voskamp’s Joy Dare! What a blessing! Here are numbers #5126–5146. Read my entire list by clicking here.