Thoughts on...
July 5, 2009

This week we are off lectionary as we celebrate July 4th, Independence Day. Our scriptures of the week are as follows:
Deuteronomy 10:12-13, 17-21: What does God require of us as a nation?
Psalm 72: A Prayer for Justice and Righteousness
Galatians 5:13-26: The Proper Use of Freedom
John 8:31-39

Freedom is the word of the day. The "Jews who had believed in Jesus" misunderstood the freedom that believing in the truth could give them. The truth that Jesus was lifting up was the presence of God that is found in Jesus and the freedom was not from oppression by another, but freedom from sin that separates us from God.

As we celebrate Independence Day and consider the freedom that we have here in the USA, it does not compare with the freedom that we find in the truth, the presence of God. Genuine freedom does not come from boasting about being the greatest, or even, the most blessed, freedom is found in living according to God's Word, for then "we will know the truth, and the truth will make us free."