We Must Use Our Freedom To Serve One Another…Hello Hump Day readers. Tomorrow is July 4th, or as I love to put it, Independence Day—and I am not talking about the movie! What does this day really mean to us anymore? What does freedom mean to us? And the toughest question: what have we done with this freedom?

Recently, the Pew Research posed a question to 2500 adults: “What would you do if you won the lottery?” Here are the top three responses (out of many responses): *Purchase an RV *Have a personal hairdresser (I live in an RV, no room for that) *Hire a chauffeur (The last I knew a chauffeur does not drive an RV!) Sadly, it seems we humans have a fondness for spending money on ourselves. The temptation to see freedom as simply a way to pursue what WE WANT has been around as long as humans have been on the earth.

Let’s face it, we live in a country that is so different from any others because of the freedoms we have in our Constitution. Here’s a few to remember: Freedom of Speech. Freedom to Worship and Freedom from Religion. Freedom to do what we believe leads to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” And there’s lots more, but on this day when we light up the sky with fireworks and sing songs of freedom, we need to remember these freedoms were not won in a lottery! They were bought with the blood of soldiers, who went to war and still are going to war today and around the globe, protecting our freedoms for us.

Let’s turn to the Apostle Paul who wrote to the church in Galatia [5:13-15 The Message Bible]   “It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?”

As we celebrate our freedoms each year on the 4th of July, the phrase ‘use your freedom to serve one another in love” keeps repeating in my mind and my heart and I can’t stop thinking about those top 3 responses from the Pew Research! Each response was about self, and nothing about serving one another. The outcomes of this? We see it daily in our news with school shootings, stealing from stores, belittling people who are down-and-out or of another color or religion (and so much more). When we do this do we realize that we are taking away their freedoms? Seems that answer is no. Instead, we are all about ourselves first…I think our founding fathers are rolling over in their graves.

The freedom Paul spoke of in our Scripture, reminds us that our freedom was bought with the blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ! We would have NO freedom without Christ and yet, we can easily take freedom into our hands to mold it to what we want it to be…and Jesus cries.

I’m thinking that tomorrow, July 4th, should be a time to pause and remember the highest, best freedom—the love of Christ who died on the cross to give us freedom. Let’s pause and thank those who came across the seas to establish a new frontier—a new country with freedom for all. And let’s decide to speak only the words that make us and others stronger and loved. And last—let’s worship the God who gave us everything! Let’s pause in our selfish pursuits and serve the least of these for that is what true freedom looks like.

So, I ask, ‘what does freedom really mean to us?’ Well, it’s not in a snarky Facebook or Tik Tok post; it’s not in the rant of a religious leader tearing others to shreds; it won’t be at the table with gossip—because the irony is: when we stop loving, we give up our freedom! We become entangled in our own words and hatred until we cannot breathe or see outside of our own wants.

On this July 4th, let’s embrace this day as a time to celebrate an important event in America’s history. But let’s also think about what real freedom means for us right here—right now. We don’t need to win the lottery to send out a little more love into the world or have faith like a firework lighting up the dark…because we have Jesus and that’s all we need and that’s what our country and our world needs, too! AMEN.