Independence Day

This coming Thursday, we are celebrating the 243rd anniversary of our nation’s Declaration of Independence. A nation based on the ideals of personal liberty, personal responsibility, Godliness, and the freedom to become what God intended us to become; it was and is still a new and revolutionary idea.

 

We celebrate the precious gift of freedom we have because of the price that has been paid for it. For most of us that price has been paid by someone else. We must remember that freedom isn’t free. Freedom is, in fact, very expensive. As Korean War veteran and purple heart recipient Howard William Osterkamp is attributed to have said, “All gave some, but some gave all.” No, Freedom isn’t free, but it is infinitely valuable.

 

Today as we worship in security and comfort, we do so because thousands of young men have given their lives and shed their blood. Many have died in forsaken places with names not remembered so that we could experience the joy and I hope the responsibility of freedom.

 

While precious, the American blood spilled on battlefields at home and abroad do not mark the first-time blood was spilled for freedom. No, 2,000 plus years ago a young man’s blood spilled upon the ground so that we, if we would believe, could experience true and ultimate freedom.

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