FREEDOM IN CHIRST!

        In one sense of the word, we can measure the cost of freedom by counting our dead, which total nearly 650,000 since our War of Independence. 2/3 of a million people have died to preserve our freedoms, and millions more paid dearly as well. Some of our warriors were gung-ho, some were reluctant; some did what they had to do, some went beyond the call of duty.... but they all died for a cause greater than themselves. Some of them had great faith, some of them struggled with it, and some of them didn't have any faith at all... but they all believed that freedom was something worth fighting for, suffering for, and dying for. We've buried a lot of heroes, but the cost of freedom also includes millions of children who grew up without a dad... or with dads who were never quite the same. My father fought in WWII. He flew a transport plane to the battle lines and he carried men back to England. He helped liberate those enslaved in concentration camps, and he lost a Co-Pilot, named Kenny. He was not "wounded" in battle, but some part of him died in Europe... and the same thing can be said for all of the others! Praise God for every hero who was willing to die so that we could live free! Decorate their graves, give them honor flights, wave your flags, sing your songs, salute them when the march by, and thank them when you can.
      Indeed, we are free from those who would've taken our way of life away. We're free to vote for whomever we please, or to not vote at all. We're free to worship in any church that will let us in, or to not worship at all. We can go whenever we want, live anywhere we choose, and even write a blog if the thought crosses our mind... but we will never be truly free... until we entrust our lives to God. We will never be really free until we "let go" and "let God," because until we take this leap of faith... we will forever be slaves to self! As the poet said, "you gotta serve somebody." It may be the Lord, it may be the Devil, it may be the trinkets that we've accumulated... but we've gotta' serve somebody... and for most of us, that somebody is SELF, who is number one from the get-go... to our dying day.
      We worship the "Omnipotent Baby" within. We do his or her bidding throughout our lives, and we never quite outgrow our need to be at the center of our world. We're prone to worship the child within us... and to fit everything else into that child's agenda. Whether we're religious or not, our own will outweighs God's will for us, and even those of us who worship God or gold... do so on our own terms. We can come and go and vote and protest... but we are imprisoned by our fears, our sins, our secrets, and our self interests. We are slaves to self, and until we get free, we will never know the joy of being loved unconditionally... or the unbridled freedom that comes from being forgiven entirely! We're imprisoned to self and no matter how hard we try, we cannot set ourselves free... because we can never start entirely anew... or save ourselves!
     Only a God can do that! Only a powerful and loving God can do that... and here's the good news: HE HAS! He's already set us free from self and sin, and he's already forgiven our sins- the big ones, the little ones, the accidental ones, the intentional ones. Come, he said, if you're heavy laden, if you're tired of pretending, if you're tired of blustering, bluffing, and dodging, if you're fed up with your empty search to find purpose and fulfillment... come to me, and I will set you free! Deep down, we are not free. We're enslaved by our own desires, fears, expectations, and sin, and these demons, more than any outside dictator, will be the death of us. This is the truth of it... but there is a much greater truth, and it is this: that God so loved the world that he sent his only Son to live with beauty and grace in our midst... and to hang on Calvary's Cross for our sins- and that he rose on the 3rd day in victory over both death and sin. He is the Savior of the world. He is the truth, and the truth will set us free. Take a step now, then a leap. of faith, and experience complete freedom! Turn to Jesus! After all, as he bled and died, he understood that freedom is the costliest thing on earth... and in heaven! Amen.