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Embracing the Responsibility of our Freedom

Faith Family,

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I continue to give thanks to our gracious God for putting you all in our lives. Your faithfulness and your enthusiasm fill my heart with joy and helps complete my hope in Christ. Every day I look forward to serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ alongside each of you and growing in our discipleship journey together. I pray as God has continued blessings us, may we continue to be a blessing to others.

This past weekend we celebrated Independence Day (4th of July). There were several community events that covered the weekend as we both celebrating the 4th and remembered the tragic flood. The Community gathered and found comfort, healing, and joy simply spending time together worshipping God through song and celebrating 250 years of the United States of America. Some chose to stay away from the traffic, some chose to gather with families, and some chose to gather with the community to watch the fireworks show. Having the choice is nice. Choice is freedom. But with freedom comes responsibilities.

As American citizens we have inalienable rights, that is rights that cannot be surrendered, given away, or taken away. Our rights of freedom, life, liberty (the freedom to act and think) and the pursuit of happiness cannot be surrendered or sold. Which means as we pursue our happiness, we must understand others are pursuing theirs as well. As we live out our freedom to act or think, so are others. So, what is the best way for us to embrace the responsibility of this freedom? The answer is easy to say, but at times difficult to practice. The answer is to live as Jesus lived, to act as Jesus acted, to think as Jesus thought and to treat others as Jesus did.

Our inalienable rights come with Christian responsibilities. Just because we have the right to act, or think, doesn’t mean our actions or thoughts are Christ-like and encouraging to others. The Beatitudes are great examples of how we handle the responsibility of freedom. We need to seek Christ, we need to be humble, we need to be peacemakers, we need to be hungry to learn more about God, to live more like Christ, and to be led by the Holy Spirit. We are to be the Light and Salt of the Earth.

Following Christ and living like Christ is not an easy task. In fact, it is impossible unless we surrender to Christ, and allow the Holy Spirit to direct us, convict us, correct us, and lead us. The world, in its broken state, needs to see the church being responsible with her freedoms so others may experience the graciousness and love of God.

If the church isn’t living responsibly, where will those who are needing Christ turn to? Where will they find stability in their chaos, peace in their restlessness, and hope in their hopelessness. We have all experienced the gifts of God – grace, love, forgiveness, restoration, and sanctification. These are gifts, that we have the responsibility to share with those in our community. That is what it means to spread Scriptural Holiness. 

May we thank our Almighty God for the freedoms we experience, but may we also seek the Holy Spirit to direct us and empower us to live out those freedoms with Christian responsibly. 

Have a blessed Week!

Pastor Frank