Galatians 5:1
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.

Last night around the dinner table Wendy and I talked with Will and Parker about what the Fourth of July is all about. It took some doing, but we finally cleared up the fact that we did not gain our Independance from Great Britain in the Silver War and also that it would not be okay for them to dump tea in the bathtub just because they think we are asking too much of them. Of course, since they are seven year old boys, their favorite part was the "shot heard 'round the world" and how the men were told not to shoot until "you see the whites of their eyes!" It was funny how big their eyes got during that part. There was definitely a lot of white going on then. All in all, I'd say our history lesson went pretty well.

It was later that I thought about how odd it would have been if, after all those lives were lost and the price for freedom had been paid, we had just said to the British, "Thanks for playing. Now, let's go back to the way things were. Shoot, we'll even replace the tea." Can you imagine it? Talk about soldiers coming out of the grave and kicking some Colonial butt! Those men paid to high a price for our freedom for us to just give it back and be a bunch of colonies again. And so it is with Christ.

Why would we, after such a price was paid for our freedom, even consider living again as if we were still slaves? It seems way to obvious, but we were actually set free by Jesus so that we could live, well, free! He didn't go through all of that just so we could continue living the same way. He died and rose so that we could live better.

How do we honor people who died to set us free? By valuing freedom with our lives. And how do we honor our Saviour who paid the ultimate price to liberate us? The same way.

Live free and may God bless America.