Two Truths About Freedom on America’s 250th
Of the 47 birthdays the USA has had since I’ve been alive, I’ve spent about half of them outside my beloved birth country. I’ve wished America happy birthday from Japan, Thailand, Germany, Czechia, Portugal, and more. I’m always nostalgic, always homesick for the fireworks and burgers, always deeply grateful (along with Bruce Springsteen!) that I was Born in the USA.
My American birth certificate has afforded me far more than I will ever fully recognize. Through no effort of our own, we Americans are born immediately wealthy and healthy compared to much of the globe. We are born into great freedom, above great safety nets, and with great opportunity ahead of us. No shade at all to other nations—you know I love the nations. And this is no stamp of approval on all that America is currently doing or ever has done. But, I’m grateful to my birth country.
American freedom, though, isn’t a sure thing. No freedom granted by worldly powers is—governments, bank accounts, and human bodies fail. A global calamity or a third world war or any number of crises could take your freedom and mine overnight. My hope cannot come from being born in the USA. Genuine, lasting peace cannot come from one’s nation.
The People Who are Truly Free
There is a group of people who are free even when they are in prison. Even when they are persecuted. Even when they are murdered. These people are not ultimately bound by human constraints. They are bound to Christ. Bound by his love. And truly, fully free even when, from every human perspective, they are in chains.
They are the Christian women in Iran who are actively multiplying the world’s fastest growing church—women who are horrifically persecuted by the ayatollah, but revel in their freedom in Jesus. They are the tens of thousands of Christian Nigerians who have been kidnapped, raped, and burned alive because they would not renounce Jesus. They are the new Christ followers in India, Lebanon, Japan, and Italy who my own friends have baptized, and who have counted the cost of losing family, friends, and status as worth it, compared to the goodness of being a Christian.
This is freedom. This is freedom that cannot be lost. This is freedom that cannot be taken. This is eternal freedom, based on the finished work of Jesus. We who belong to Christ, can never be enslaved again.
As Jesus said to the Jews who had put their hope in their nation and in their law, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:34-36).
Don’t set your hope on your nation, friends, set it on Jesus. If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.
How to Be that Kind of Free
To put it very simply: we all are born unfree. Every human—no matter his or her nation or pedigree or behavior—is born an enemy of God, falling short of living in a way that honors their Maker and those he has made. The sin of Adam has been passed down to each one of us. Our holy God, who made us and died to save us, cannot accept us into his family or his presence unless payment is made for the sins we’ve committed against him and others.
For God is indeed love, which also makes him just. He cannot look away from the harm we commit—he cannot and will not ignore it.
But Jesus, in his amazing grace, willingly offered himself as a perfect sacrifice on our behalf and makes a way for us to join God’s family. We who receive that forgiveness receive Jesus’s righteousness. We become sons and daughters. And membership in this Christian family cannot be revoked by anyone. Or anything. Ever.
So you who will celebrate America’s birthday, celebrate joyfully. Light the fireworks, wave the sparklers, recount the goodness it is to be American. But remember that, even at 250 years, it’s a tenuous freedom, which can be taken away.
Celebrate, yes, but don’t put your hope here. Look and long for a freedom that is sure, eternal, and based not on human work.
Freedom Isn’t Free & It Shouldn’t Stop with Me
And may we who are free in Jesus remember that he didn’t keep his freedom for himself and neither can we. This certain freedom we have is not meant to stop with us. It’s meant to be used to love God and love others.
The Apostle Peter, whose freedom in Jesus meant imprisonment, persecution, and ultimately crucifixion upside down, told the first Christians, “Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:16-17).
Peter didn’t hoard his freedom in Christ. He preached it and proclaimed it every single chance he got. He was so obsessed with his freedom in Christ he was a nuisance to his nation and Jewish community. Peter loved Jesus and his freedom more than his own life.
Peter said we mustn’t use our freedom to cover up evil. I know I’m tempted to use my freedom in Jesus to cover up all kinds of evil. Maybe not blatant, obvious evil like committing violence against others or stealing. But is it not evil to keep the gospel to myself when I’m in the presence of others who remain bound in chains? Is it not evil to build my own kingdom instead of Christ’s? Is it not evil to hoard my money and exploit cheap labor and build a life of luxury for myself while others languish? Is it not evil to harbor thoughts that are unkind or impure? Peter says I’m not free to do any of that. My freedom wasn’t free. And it’s not for me.
Paul’s words along these lines caused me to fully surrender to Jesus when I was a freshman in college, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). To live as a truly free woman is to live as a slave to the God who made me and died to save me. That means, as Peter said, respecting everyone, loving other Christians well, revering the Lord, honoring worldly rulers, amongst many other things.
This 4th of July let’s live free. Let’s celebrate our freedom as Americans, for sure. But let’s take that celebration even further. Let’s set our minds and hearts on a freedom that can never be taken, a freedom that will never fade. And let’s be moved by God himself to share that freedom with others. If the Son has set you free, rejoice and live like it.
As we celebrate 250 years of America, let’s hold fast to two truths about the freedom that only God can give:
You can’t lose it. Ever.
It’s not meant to stop with us. It’s meant to be used to love God and love others.