“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” 2Cor 3:17
I am not ashamed to admit that I am fiercely patriotic. I pretty much cry every time I sing the National Anthem and if you are sitting close to me at a baseball game when the Star Spangled Banner begins to play and texting instead of standing with hat in hand, I am that woman! As a military spouse, I have personally witnessed the sacrifices made for our freedom and attended the funeral of a friend that made the ultimate sacrifice. “Freedom is not free” should not be just a cliché attached to a social media post, but remind us of the men and women that make our freedom possible. Ronald Reagan said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery,” the Apostle Paul begins the fifth chapter in his letter to the Galatians. Paul was intensely passionate about preaching the gospel and zealous to declare that salvation is obtained through faith in Jesus Christ, alone. It is only faith in Christ that leads to freedom and that freedom produces spirit-filled fruit by which we can bless others. Because of Christ we have the freedom to put all our hope and trust in God no matter the circumstances of this life. Paul was imprisoned for his beliefs on several occasions and wrote a fair portion of the New Testament from inside the prison walls. In spite of being imprisoned, beaten, stoned, and depressed his faith anchored and encouraged him. As a twenty-first century American it is hard to even imagine what Paul endured for the gospel’s sake. Most of us have no personal experience of prison, persecution or death because of our beliefs. Although not because of beliefs, my Israeli quarantine experience did provide a very tiny glimpse of what it feels like to be contained and freedoms revoked. The very basic liberty of clean living conditions, free access to drinkable water, and the ability to leave the room or choose a meal was gone for eight days. Although our accommodations would have seemed like the Ritz Carlton to Paul, just like him freedom was found in the prayers, songs of praise, laughter and saving faith of God’s sovereignty within our quarantine cell. And while freedom on this earth is to be cherished, it is nothing compared to the spiritual freedom we have forever in Jesus. His unceasing work in the hearts of humanity is what brings true freedom. May we be thankful for our freedom as Americans and celebrate and share our freedom in Christ every day. And that’s your Tuesday Tidbit.
The picture is of the bars on the window of our quarantine facility. We were thankful they were pretty circles and traditional prison bars!