Independence Day
1 Peter 2:16 Live like free people, but don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. Live as those who are serving God.
Okay, so it’s the 4th of July. No matter where you live, you’d have to be hiding under a rock to miss the fact that today, in the US of A, it’s Independence Day – the day when America celebrates throwing off the shackles of British colonial rule to be set free.
Yep, Independence Day … definitely worth celebrating. Democracy is a wonderful thing, and yet, as you look at not just American democracy but democracies right around the world, we’ve never been more divided.
Left against right and right against left: White against black and black against white: Rich against poor and poor against rich: East against west and west against east.
Am I missing something, or are we busy snatching defeat from the jaws of victory? What do you think?
Freedom is an interesting concept. I imagine that on that day when America first celebrated its independence from England, there was a great sense of euphoria and why not? But the question then, not just for countries, but for each one of us, is … what do we do with that freedom?
1 Peter 2:16 Live like free people, but don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. Live as those who are serving God.
When you look around at your nation, your local community, your family … I’m pretty sure you’re seeing more than enough conflict and division, without you adding to it. Am I right?
So the question for you and for me, in the midst of this ultra-divided, ultra-conflicted world in which we live, is simply this:
What do we do with our freedom?
Are we going to use it to get our way, to throw fuel on the fires that are already burning? Or will we make the sacrifices needed to bring God’s wisdom, God’s love, God’s peace, to those conflicts?
Live as those who are serving God.
That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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