daily java

Daily Java:

For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Corinthians 3:17)

Today is Independence Day. That is in case you are truly dense and didn’t realize it. If nothing else, you can tell both by the amount of barbeque food you ate for lunch and the sound of the war zone with all the fireworks outside.

But there is something in the celebration, or commemoration or whatever you call it of Independence Day. It is the joy of a nation of people who consider themselves free.

But are we free? As I read the news, I see a lot of problems in our country. I see a lot of ways in which we have given ourselves over to servitude without really realizing it.

We surrender our very modesty when we get on airplanes. We allow local bureaucrats to tell us where we can dig on our own property. Someone wrote the other day that the average American breaks three law every day without realizing it. That is because of the way the legal codes are so vaguely worded.

It seems that we are surrounded on all sides by people telling us what we can and cannot do, can and cannot eat, things that in the past were part of our inalienable rights, but now forbidden.

My son one day several years ago was talking about a non-smoking law that was being enacted. I said I didn’t like it. He said, but you don’t like cigarettes. My answer was, no I do not, but I like laws against things worse. I told him that every law, no matter how well-meaning, was one less freedom.

I tend to be a libertarian. I believe in less laws.

But there is one problem with it all. Real freedom is not in decrees or lack of laws.

There is more to freedom than libertarian views. There are those who are in prison that are more free than those who are outside prison. There are those in totalitarian societies that are more free than those in presumably free societies.

That is because there is more to freedom, real freedom, than the absence of personal laws.

Real freedom is knowing that in Jesus Christ you are free.

But what does that mean? It is easy for Christians to talk about freedom and all, because too many times it becomes vague generalities. We are free in Christ, they say, while all the time they enact far more stringent rules and regulations than Jesus ever would.

But freedom in Christ means we are free. Free from legalism, free from the effects of sin, free from fear – all these are the freedom that lies only in Jesus. It is more than the freedom of the body. It is the freedom of the heart and the soul.

Our freedom is not just the freedom to go to church, or just to sing and pray out loud. Our freedom is the freedom from rules.

Jesus never came to give us rules. The people of God already had rules. The law of sin and death was one of rules. And the main rule was that if you break any law, any law at all, you are sinful and you are guilty.

Jesus came to get rid of rules and to bring grace.

We are not saved by anything we can do. There is nothing we can do to be saved. We are saved by who we are. If we are children of God by faith in Christ Jesus we are saved, no matter how hard it may be to do what is right.

And conversely, we are not condemned by what we have done, we are condemned by the fact of who we are not. If we are not in Jesus, we are not saved. No matter where we live, if we are not in Jesus, we are not free.

If you are living by rules and regulations of any kind, no matter how well-meaning or justified in the hearts and minds of Christians, you are not free.

Jesus said, You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free (John 8:32).

And what is the truth. It is what James called the Royal Law (James 2:8), to love. Love God and love your neighbor. Do that and you are free.

Celebrate the day. I sure do. I like the fact that I live in this country. I served in this country’s army and have paid taxes and I pledge allegiance to the flag.

But real freedom can only come through the power and blood of Jesus, not mandates or declarations or constitutions. Not really.

Those are good in their sphere, but real freedom only comes only through Jesus.