Last Tuesday was Texas Independence Day.
It came to my attention that no one but me around here was celebrating it.
Unfortunately, no one in Missouri seems to care about the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836 and all of the stuff that went with it.
But consider for a moment. A group of people wanted to be free from foreign oppression so badly that they were willing to die for that freedom.
The Alamo and the Massacre at Goliad were examples but on opposite sides of the coin.
At the Alamo, about 185 defenders fought for 13 days against an overwhelming Mexican army led by Santa Anna, the Napoleon of the West. Ultimately, it was a loss and they were all killed except for two women and their children and possibly a slave named Joe.
At Goliad, almost 400 men were rounded up, imprisoned in a chapel, led out on the prairie and executed while they were trying to run away.
Completely different military exercises, yet done completely differently. One group fought to the death, the other ran and were killed.
These people wanted freedom. Freedom has always been a watchword. Many of us want it enough to die for it. But it has to be earned.
The Goliad people tried to run and were killed. You cannot run from problems. The Alamo people faced it head on and were still killed. But they are remembered for their courage. It takes courage to fight.
How badly do you want to be free from sin? That freedom is not something that you can earn necessarily, but it is something that you have to die for. Galatians 2:20 says, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ who lives in me. In order to be truly free, you have to die.
The Texans wanted it badly enough to die for it, as did the American colonists, and multitudes from other cultures throughout history.
God gives you freedom but in order to be free, you have to die. And when you die, you are raised to walk in newness of life (Romans 6). You cannot run from sin, because sin will find you and ultimately kill you.
Live free in him who gives you freedom.
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