Freedom is never free. It is always costly.
July 5, 2007 (Thursday) – I still have Independence Day on my mind, and other thoughts about our national history. The signing of the Declaration of Independence took place in 1776, but the war that finally secured our independence lasted from 1775 to 1783. So our freedom was not won in one day, by dignitaries in a room in Philadelphia, as important as that was. It was won at great human cost. It was purchased with the blood of citizens and soldiers.
Freedom is never free. It is always costly. Our freedoms as Americans must not be taken for granted. We must always be grateful for those who have suffered and died so that we may remain free.
I’ve been thinking about how that principle applies to our Christian faith. We believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. How did He come to be all that He is to us? He did it by redeeming us with His own blood. The freedom we have in Christ — salvation by grace — was costly to God. Providing it for us revealed that He “spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.” “God loved us so much that he gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have everlasting life.”
And that’s not all. After He died on a cruel cross, His body was taken with loving hands and placed in a tomb that had been prepared for the eventual death of one who loved Him. By Jewish law, it had to be done before sundown, so preparation of the body, hurriedly done, could not be completed until after the holy sabbath. The government sealed the tomb with a great stone. When his friends came to complete the annointing of the body, they found the stone rolled aside, and within the tomb they saw and heard angels declare that Jesus had risen from the dead. Outside the tomb, He appeared to Mary Magdalene, later to his disciples, then to many others for a period of forty days. Finally He ascended to Heaven. During His earthly life He had predicted all this, and had promised us, “Because I live, you shall live also.”
He has not only paid the price to forgive our sins, but He has promised us an eternal home in Heaven. What mercy, what love and what grace!