Monthly Archives: July 2013

Last Memorial Day I wrote a meditation titled “Freedom Isn’t Free.” I looked at the price that was paid by the members of our Armed Forces for the physical freedom we enjoy in this nation and the spiritual freedom purchased for us by the blood of the Lamb. Today, in honor of our Independence Day celebration, I’d like to offer a word of encouragement—this time about our choice of freedom.

If serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15)

The Bible makes it crystal clear that the freedom we experience every day in this life is a choice . . . and the choice is ours! Every choice we make brings consequences with it. Some matter little; some matter more; and some matter most. Joshua outlined the choice that matters most.

When was the last time serving the Lord seemed undesirable to you? You might say, “I don’t remember such a time.” OK, let me ask the question this way: when was the last time you went through a bout of man-centered anger? Impatience? Anxiety? Selfish ambition? How about serving the god of worldly success? Do remember any times like that?

Every time serving the Lord seems undesirable, we undermine the freedom Christ purchased for us on the cross; we create chains of bondage that bind us to unbelief. Any choice we make to run after something smaller than Jesus makes it clear that we simply don’t trust Him to deliver on His promise that He is entirely sufficient to meet our every need. We are to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,” and trust that “all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 5:33).

We have the choice, moment by moment, to choose the God who is: the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob . . . or the god we want. When we choose the god we want we shrink the size of our life down to the size of our life . . . and that is no life at all! To be sure, we may get exactly what we were after, but in doing so we may have missed the one thing we were designed by God to truly need . . . or perhaps I should say the One we were designed by God to need!

So as you enjoy your time with family and friends celebrating Independence Day, prayerfully consider whom you will serve. How easy it is for us to confuse life with death and freedom with slavery when we are sitting on the throne of our lives! Why? Because when we create functional saviors for ourselves, we leave no room for God.

Our sinful nature will always push us to choose something smaller than Jesus. The daily problem with sin is that it always seeks to move us away from our Savior and toward the self. And there is no freedom to be found in serving the self! It is bondage of the worst kind when we place self on the throne of life. It is living a life that promised freedom but in the end delivers only slavery. Solomon gave us this stark warning, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12).

On this side of the grave, freedom is a choice—a choice we must make moment by moment. But one day the conflict with sin will end and the need for choosing will be over. There is a time coming when there will be only one choice and you will always choose it. And you will experience a freedom—an independence—unlike any freedom you have ever experienced, a freedom that can only be found living in the presence of the everlasting God.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

When it comes to your Christian witness to the watching world, would you say it should be classified as “light” or “blight?” Light is something that makes things visible and affords illumination. Blight, on the other hand, is something that impairs or destroys the luster of something.

So . . . how would you describe the confession of your life in putting the truths of the Gospel on display for the people God brings into your life? Are you light? Or blight?

After having examined the lives of Christians for many years, one Jewish rabbi said: “Christians claim that Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners, but they show no more signs of being saved than anyone else.”

The German atheist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “If I saw more redeemed people, I might be more inclined to believe in their Redeemer.” As the redeemed of God, we are to put the Gospel on display in a way that makes Christianity attractive to the watching world. Jesus said we are to be light in a dark world . . . that we are to let our light shine before men. Now, I know we are not responsible for saving anyone by the way we live our lives. Jesus Christ alone is the Savior of the world. But we certainly are responsible for making our God attractive by reflecting His grace, mercy, and love.

When we are more concerned with self-protection than self-sacrifice, we distort the picture of the Gospel and become a blight rather than a light. When we love things more than we love others, we distort the picture of the Gospel and become a blight rather than a light. When our greatest goal is being right rather than being loving, we distort the picture of the Gospel and become a blight rather than a light. When our heart beats more for the self than for the Savior, we distort the Gospel and become a blight rather than a light.

God has called us to Himself to bring honor and glory to His name. We are to reveal His glory, His goodness, and His grace in such astonishing ways that those who come in contact with us are simply astonished. Why? Because if we are truly living Spirit-filled lives we become a light that reflects an accurate picture of our Most High God.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.  (Matthew 5:16)

An obese person makes a poor personal trainer. A person buried under a mountain of debt makes a poor financial planner. And the redeemed of God who are blights rather than lights make poor Christians. The apostle Paul tells us of “the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4), which is to be the confession of our lives, as imperfect as that confession may be. All those who come in contact with us should see the nature of Christ reflected in the profession of our lips and our lives. The light of Christ shines through us when we love unconditionally, forgive completely, and serve sacrificially. At this level of living, those around us are drawn toward the light as we point toward our Prince.

Only by walking further up and further in to the truths of the Gospel will our light so shine, because our light is His light in us—the indwelling Holy Spirit, who shines forth from every fiber of our being when we are living for our Savior rather than ourselves.

So . . . which is it for you today? When the world around you sees in you one who is redeemed, they will begin to believe that you actually have a Redeemer—a Redeemer who lives . . . and He lives in you!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!