Freedom

This is the first 4th I've celebrated as a part of the Sycamore View family. I was uncertain what to expect in view of the national holiday, but I was presently surprised.

Yes, I'm glad to live in the US. I'm glad that I have the freedoms and rights that I do and I am grateful for the blessings I receive as a side-benefit of my being a citizen of this country -- and I'm grateful for the ones who have fought past and present to preserve the way of life I daily enjoy. But I don't meet with my Christian family to celebrate the works of man.

I was afraid that SV, like so many other places I've been , would celebrate today the human spirit, the achievements of our past, and "why we're so good; go us." But we didn't.

Curt talked about freedom, but he talked about real freedom. He didn't exalt our government or remind us of the sacrifices of man. He exalted our God and reminded us of the sacrifice of Christ.

The freedom I enjoy as a US citizen means that I have an entire platter of rights -- any of which I can choose to exercise at any given time. In the US, "freedom" is synonymous with a quantifiable representation of rights, what I may do because of who I am: a citizen.

The freedom I enjoy as a Christian is entirely different. In this freedom, I have no "rights." God doesn't believe in democracy. Freedom, in this sense, is not having the right to do whatever I want to, it is instead being given choice -- the choice to do what I ought to: to answer the call of God to love my fellow man.