This week we celebrated the 4th of July, our independence day. It is a day where we are grateful and thankful for the freedom we have in our country.

It is a great day to reflect upon the blessings and privileges God has given us as individuals and as a nation. I hope it can also be a day where those of us who are followers of Jesus reflect on what freedom means in every aspect of our lives and the responsibilities we have. Paul writes in Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. This is not primarily a political freedom, but something even better; Freedom from sin, death, and evil! We each have a responsibility to grow in submission and surrender to our Lord and King Jesus. It is not a freedom that gives us the right to do whatever we desire. Freedom is not license. Paul will say a few verses later in Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Our spiritual freedom just like our political freedom is not free. We have been bought with a price and out of humble gratitude we have the opportunity to choose to serve Jesus and each other out of love. This Independence Day week let us remember that the most important freedom we have is not political, not material, and not about us. It is about Jesus and the tremendous blessing of His defeat of death, sin, and evil that we have begun to experience if follow Jesus. This might be the most difficult thing as Americans about embracing Christianity and embracing a salvation that requires putting someone other than me first, when we follow Jesus. It is completely counterculture. We live in a culture that teaches us to look out for our own rights. But that is not what Jesus did. He came to serve. He put us and our needs ahead of His own. Freedom does not mean we get to do what we what; Christian freedom is about being delivered from the slavery of sin, evil, and the fear of the death to serve and follow Jesus and to serve others. Let us be free, by surrendering to Jesus and serving Him and each other!

Ed Kvaale serves as pastor of Bowman Assembly of God.

Originally posted here:

Pastor's Corner: Freedom - The Bowman Extra