July 4^th - a day when our country celebrates the independence of our nation; the day we celebrate the early countrymen’s decision to declare America’s independence from the bondage of another country.  We would no longer be accountable to another country.  We would no longer live under the rules of another government.  We would BE ON OUR OWN!  This was a great day for democracy.  It was the beginning of what I think is the greatest country on Earth!  What a great step of faith that must have been for our forefathers – what a great step of bravery it must have taken to start and complete the actions necessary to declare our independence!       

 I am so grateful to be an American.  I so greatly appreciate living in a country where I can be FREE.  I can have a say-so in my government by my vote or even by protest.  My children can grow up to be whatever they work hard enough to be. My daughters are FREE to pursue just as much in life as my sons can.  Our government does not dictate our every step.  Even our prisoners, who have broken the laws of our country, have rights even in jail.  We can sleep at night without the fear of rebels coming in our house to kill us or to steal our young boys to be soldiers.  We are FREE from so much that the rest of the world endures.  When my Anna needed her tonsils out there was doctor care for her.  When Janna needed an appendectomy, there was a doctor care for her.  We even have medical care for PREVENTATIVE purposes – something a good part of the world does without.  We have asthma medicine for my Anna and Luke (who have unfortunately inherited my asthma) that enables Anna to take dance and play basketball and enables Luke to run around and keep getting into everything as usual.  We live in a wonderful, safe, dry, climate controlled home.  We have the freedom to worship how, when, and where we choose.  We even have to freedom to choose whether we WILL worship God.  And we have food.  Such a small sentence.  Such a great blessing. We have food.  So many of the world’s children do not have enough to eat.  So many of the world’s children worry how they will eat.  My children are so blessed that they only have to worry if they will WANT what Janna decides to cook (except for pizza, lasagna, and spaghetti, they never seem to agree on the same meal)!  My children will never know what it’s like to go to bed hungry.  My children will never know what it’s like to watch others die from starvation or some illness easily cured in our country.  In our country, we are blessed beyond what any words can describe.      

 So, on July 4^th, I will be celebrating this wonderful country that, along with the rest of the nation, I call HOME. But did you ever think about what it took for our forefathers to make the decision to “declare our independence?”  What a great step of faith that must have been for our forefathers – what a great step of bravery it must have taken to start and complete the actions necessary to declare our independence! But did you ever think that what our America’s first leaders were doing was really DECLARING A COMMITMENT!  They were forming a new system to be FREE from another country but they were declaring a commitment to be accountable to the new country.  Could it be that INDEPENDENCE IS REALLY COMMITMENT?  According to Webster’s dictionary, the 2^nd definition of the word “independent” is “Free from the control of another: self-reliant.  The 3^rd definition is “not affiliated with a larger group or system.  The 4^th is “not relying of others, especially for financial support.”  But the 1^st definition listed in Webster’s is “Politically self-governing.”  That’s what our forefathers did.  They definitely declared our independence.  We stopped relying on England for our “daily bread.”  We stopped relying on them for our rules – our governing body.  We stopped being a part of the larger system.  But in doing so, the leaders had to take on the commitment to form a new one.  They had to come up with new rules – a new system by which to live because this new world could not be just a place of anarchy.  America had to be “politically self-governing.”  Most of us take for granted the orderliness of things, from the rising and setting of the sun to the reason we have a speed limit on the highway.  But without these rules, our lives would be in disarray.  Our forefathers had to commit to come up with a new government that could be appreciated (even if not always agreed upon) and obeyed by all.  We had to be accountable to each other – to form a democracy.  Just as children thrive with clear boundaries set, the only way this nation would work and thrive is if all would commit to operate under the “new rules.”  And it has worked for over 200 years now!       And did you ever make the connection that what Jesus did on the cross over 2,000 years ago was to SIGN WITH HIS OWN BLOOD OUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FROM SIN?!  He gave us the choice then and there to make the commitment to be FREE from the bondage of Satan. If we choose to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins – that He was the sacrifice for our souls and our daily lives – if we accept His sacrifice and ask Him into our hearts to forgive our sins and to be our Savior, we will be independent from the world and Satan because we have committed to live our lives for Christ and we will join Jesus in Heaven when our earthly lives are finished!  And even though we have to deal with the daily influence of evil, we will have God’s help to resist going back to our lives of sin.  We will have the power of God to help us follow through on our commitment to God.  I once had a person tell me that he didn’t want to get saved because he didn’t want to give up everything that was fun and he didn’t want to have to follow all “those rules.”  He had it wrong.  If we are living in bondage to Satan, he will only ask more and more of us and our lives will spiral downward until there is no more of us left.  The rules of sin are always changing, demanding more and more down to your very soul.  And when Satan has taken all of our usefulness, he will toss us aside to whither away. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death.  I hate to imagine what that death will be like.  BUT THE RULES OF JESUS ARE ALWAYS CONSTANT, always LOVING, and always GIVING more and more. If we are living in God’s will and living our life according to the principles He provides in the Bible, He will fill us and bless us so much so that even when our lives aren’t perfect, we have His perfect peace.  And we will have His LOVE!  We will never have to worry about being “used up” and being tossed aside.      

 So please, as this July 4^th rolls around, think a while on what or who you are committed to.  Please declare your independence from the ways of the world – from sin – and commit to live your life for God.  Just as our forefathers took that step of faith, please do that in your own life.  Don’t be in bondage – Let us dwell in God and “He will show me [us] the path of life; in His presence is fullness of joy; at His right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Ps. 16:11)  With our God, we are blessed beyond what any words can describe. Have a happy and safe Holiday!

 In His Service,
 Pastor Rob and Janna