Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

1610 Carlisle Road, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania  17011

Phone: (717) 737-0439 / Fax: (717) 737-5421

 Email: gelc@comcast.net

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Devotion for the week of July 1, 2006

On July 4^th, we will celebrate Independence Day.  And as we think about the freedom we enjoy as a nation on this day, I thought we might also think about our Christian freedom.  In his treatise, The Freedom of a Christian, Martin Luther wrote these two propositions concerning the freedom and the bondage of the spirit:

            A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.

            A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.

He based these propositions on I Corinthians 9:19.  The apostle Paul says, “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all.”  Often truth is found in paradox.

            Luther explained that an individual is free because he or she does not need to do anything in order to be saved.  In this respect, a Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.  It is the Lord Jesus Christ who has saved us by the power of his cross and resurrection.  We are saved by God’s grace through faith.  But even though we don’t HAVE to do anything (that we are indeed free), as a Christian we GET to do everything.  It is our joy and our delight as people of God to love and to serve our neighbor in need.  In this respect, a Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.

            This understanding of Christian freedom might translate well to our understanding of national freedom.  As a greatly blessed country, a country that knows great freedom, is it not our joy and delight to reach out to the places in the world where there is suffering and need?  I believe we do that already.  Every once in a while, though, we do need to be reminded.  Have a blessed Independence Day!

            Let us pray…Gracious God, we give you thanks for freeing your sons and daughters from the power of sin and death.  Empower us to live in our freedom by faithfully serving others in love.  In Christ’s name… Amen.

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