Today is the 4th of July, Independence Day in the United States. As our country celebrates our freedom, we Christians have many more reasons to celebrate. In fact, I’ve written previously about those freedoms (“12 Thoughts on Our Freedom”). Maybe these thoughts will help you as you celebrate with your family today.
At the same time, I’m grateful for another freedom we have today because of the gospel: the freedom to risk. You see, the gospel reveals to us just how much the Creator loves us. He loves us so much that He sent His Son to die in our place. He loves us with an undying love that has no end. He loves us in our successes and our failures, in our faith and our questions, in our trust and in our fear. When we know that love will always be there, we can by faith take risks to:
- Follow Him even if no one else does
- Say “no” to temptation even if doing so is hard
- Stand for a biblical view of sexuality and marriage even if it costs us relationships
- Tell others about Jesus when it’s unpopular and politically incorrect
- Move our family to the ends of the earth to share the gospel with unreached peoples
- Accept a call to ministry even if it means a loss of income
- Give sacrificially to God’s church, knowing it’s possible we’ll struggle paying our bills
- Thank God for hardships because we know He allows them out of love
- Share our food and homes with the needy, believing God will always provide for us
- Love those who do not love us in return, including our wayward children
- Confess our sin to someone, trusting that doing that will help break bondages
- Die for the gospel if that’s God’s call on our lives
You know you’re deeply loved today. Standing on that truth, take a risk for God. You have the freedom to do it.
“ Move our family to the ends of the earth to share the gospel with unreached peoples”. Although I respect those that do this. I think we have a huge mission field right outside our door that we have ignored for far too long, leading us to where we are as a country today. When we were told to ‘go to the far ends of the earth’ the land we now occupy was just that. Our mission work here has been to the original residents of this land, we have ignored the lost that came here and now the lost that are here. Our mission work in our own country is less valued than that in foreign countries and that is a disgrace. Next time God calls you ( generalization) to give to a mission, look in your own community at a church in a poor or rough or rural area that needs your time or money to bring God here, to our own country, that is badly in need of Him. NAMB may be a resource to find such a church.