Freedom
I lived in Bossier City, Louisiana in the late 1980s. Not my favorite city, but I will always remember that city with fondness because I met a cute young woman there when she came to work where I worked. We have been married 33 years.
Bossier City is home to Barksdale Air Force base, which has several B-52 planes. If you are an aviation buff like me - you know what those are. If you don’t, let’s just say a B-52 is a long range bomber, and it is big and loud. They would fly fairly close to my apartment but it never really bothered me too much. You kind of got used to it. If someone ever complained about the sound of the B-52, a common retort was - that is the sound of freedom.
As July 4 draws near we will celebrate our country’s independence by watching fireworks fill the sky. If a person knows anything at all about American history, they know that our nation’s freedom was not free. Blood has been spilled on battlefields in wars and conflicts by those that fought and died for our country’s freedom. Countless lives were given as they paid the ultimate sacrifice. Families lost dads, husbands, sons, and brothers. Their families changed forever.
Jesus’s shed blood and death on the cross was a sacrifice like none the world has seen or will ever see again. The sacrifice was not just a man - it was God in human form that hung on a cross to die for the sins of the world. God wanted to have a holy relationship with us, and for us to be his adopted children. But sin stood in the way. God had a plan before the foundations of the world for mankind’s redemption. Jesus’s death on the cross was the only way to take care of sin. The sinless Lamb of God as the perfect sacrifice.
A gift like no other gift, a special gift from God. The gift of salvation and everlasting life.
Romans 6:22&23 - But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 2:8 - For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.
We should celebrate our spiritual freedom each day. The best way I know to do that is to be thankful to God, share the gospel with others, and live for Jesus daily.
Freedom from sin was not free as God freely gave Himself on the cross.
Mark Townsley
Bossier City is home to Barksdale Air Force base, which has several B-52 planes. If you are an aviation buff like me - you know what those are. If you don’t, let’s just say a B-52 is a long range bomber, and it is big and loud. They would fly fairly close to my apartment but it never really bothered me too much. You kind of got used to it. If someone ever complained about the sound of the B-52, a common retort was - that is the sound of freedom.
As July 4 draws near we will celebrate our country’s independence by watching fireworks fill the sky. If a person knows anything at all about American history, they know that our nation’s freedom was not free. Blood has been spilled on battlefields in wars and conflicts by those that fought and died for our country’s freedom. Countless lives were given as they paid the ultimate sacrifice. Families lost dads, husbands, sons, and brothers. Their families changed forever.
Jesus’s shed blood and death on the cross was a sacrifice like none the world has seen or will ever see again. The sacrifice was not just a man - it was God in human form that hung on a cross to die for the sins of the world. God wanted to have a holy relationship with us, and for us to be his adopted children. But sin stood in the way. God had a plan before the foundations of the world for mankind’s redemption. Jesus’s death on the cross was the only way to take care of sin. The sinless Lamb of God as the perfect sacrifice.
A gift like no other gift, a special gift from God. The gift of salvation and everlasting life.
Romans 6:22&23 - But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 2:8 - For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.
We should celebrate our spiritual freedom each day. The best way I know to do that is to be thankful to God, share the gospel with others, and live for Jesus daily.
Freedom from sin was not free as God freely gave Himself on the cross.
Mark Townsley
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