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Fireworks

by Jerry Ousley  
7/04/2009 / Holidays

It was the Fourth of July the celebration day of the Independence of our great nation The United States of America. What a beautiful day it had turned out to be. Around eighty degrees with very low humidity on a July day in Indiana was a rarity indeed. Our town had prepared a nice celebration of the event. Food vendors had set up in the high school parking lot, live bands were playing on stage and folks were milling around, greeting those they hadn't seen for awhile. Children were playing and having a good time, all excitedly awaiting dark and the time for the grand show the fireworks.

We found a good spot on the lawn and retrieved our chairs from the car, then set ourselves up to enjoy the show. Our daughter and her husband were with us and our granddaughter laughed and played in the grass. It was a wonderful evening. A little after ten o'clock the show began and we all "oohed" and "ahhhed" as the rockets sped into the sky leaving behind them a trail of sparks. Some boomed with deafening, thunderous sound and others left colored trails bursting into flowered displays of light. What a wonderful way to celebrate something so important to each and every American. Despite hard times, a failing economy, home repossessions, credit card debt, bankruptcy and a host of other problems, all present seemed to forget for a while and join in the celebration.

As I thought about the wonder of it all, how much I enjoyed being with Debbie and our kids, the good fortune we had of being born into this free nation, and all that we have been blessed with, it occurred to me that we have even more than that to celebrate. As our brave soldiers during all the wars fought in the name of freedom gave their lives for the cause, so Jesus Christ gave His life for an even greater freedom that can be granted not to those of just one nation but to each and every individual on the face of this planet who wants to receive it. He paid for our freedom from sin and death.

Though we strongly disagree with many things that are taking place in our country, most of us still believe in the freedoms we enjoy and defend our right to worship, go where we want to go, and a host of other things we daily take for granted while people from other nations would give their eye teeth for the same liberties. We do the same in our Christian experience as well. We take for granted the gift of grace, the hope of heaven, and freedom from sin. We may disagree with how things are done in many of our congregations but we are still a part of the great and wonderful body ordained by God called the Church. That is a privilege, an honor and something we should not take lightly.

One day we will leave this life. When we do we can't take any of our possessions with us. We can't take the people we love with us and we will have to leave behind our hopes and dreams we have conjured for this life. But if we have made ourselves members of the Body of Christ through repentance, forgiveness and salvation, then we can take the grace of God with us. We can take the mercy of the Father, and we won't leave behind what Christ paid so dearly for.

If there was ever a reason to celebrate this is it! We gained independence for the slavery of sin and the threat of eternal death when we surrendered our loyalty, our honor, and our life to God through the grace of Jesus Christ. It is something worth a sacrifice. Over the years men and women have suffered terrible torture, pain, humility, and even death because they have chosen to live in Jesus Christ. They were willing to suffer these things for that. Doesn't this alone tell us it must be the greatest independence we could ever hope to gain? Why would people be willing to sacrifice all for simply an idea? But if that idea is a reality if the hope is something more than a promise, and if the dream is actually looking forward to what is real, then we can celebrate and even give our very lives for a thing as valuable as that. Light up the sky and celebrate Jesus!

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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