Freedom

It's Memorial Day, a day when we are all reminded of how expensive our freedom is.  It has cost the lives of millions of men and women over the centuries, and it continues to be costly today.

In terms of our salvation we know that freedom for us meant Christ's death on the cross...the ultimate price paid by the sinless Son of God.  There is another level of freedom we are meant to enjoy as God's beloved children.  We should be living lives that are free from the entangling grip of sin tripping us up in our daily lives.  We know how we should live, so we redouble our efforts and try harder.  We hopefully come to learn that our own efforts are worthless and we need to depend on Christ's life in us to live as we should. 

There is an example in the history of Israel of this kind of daily challenge to trust the Lord.  As the people were being led to their new promised land they were fully aware of the promises that God had set before them of a land of freedom and provision far greater than they had ever known.  Yet as soon as they experienced hardships of needing water and craving familiar foods, they're first reaction was to say, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt?"  They actually preferred to return to lives of slavery and bondage rather than adapt to changes in their appetites and comforts.

Are we so different?  We like what we like, and we want what we want.    We proclaim that we will follow Christ as He leads us into freedom, but when we are made uncomfortable we have a real decision to make.  It requires a strong faith that God's way is higher than ours and true surrender of our own agendas to follow Christ into all He has purchased for us.  We will only be able to lay ourselves aside moment by moment if we remember how great His love for us really is.