How blessed we are to live in a country where freedom of religion still reigns. We may not have that freedom long, from the sounds of the news. But we can be assured we will always have the freedom from sin that God promises. May we never take that gift lightly.
Eternal Perspectives by Sally Bair
Freedom
September 16 is honored as Mayflower Day. On that day in 1620, more than 100 passengers landed in Plymouth, New England after having sailed for more than two months aboard the three-masted ship, the Mayflower. During their journey from Plymouth, England, the first colony of Pilgrims encountered dangerous storms and little to eat. They paved the way for many more escapees, by drawing up the famous Mayflower Compact, one of the earliest plans for self-government by European colonists in America.
In part, the Mayflower covenant, signed by all men of age, states that they “covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid … unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.”
The covenant remained the fundamental law of the Plymouth colony until the group was later absorbed into Massachusetts. Some of my ancestors soon followed the Mayflower to gain religious freedom from their homeland’s state Church of England.
Perhaps most of us Americans don’t celebrate Mayflower Day but we do proclaim other days of freedom. Freedoms come in all shapes and sizes. Some of us have gained freedom from bad habits, others from destructive emotions, some from disease and affliction, and still others from abuse. The greatest freedom, however, is the freedom from our sin through the death and resurrection of God’s only Son, Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us we all have sinned and its resulting slavery results in death. But because of God’s great love for us, we can be set free. His solution does not require us to sail across stormy seas with little to eat.
“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) His gift is for any who chooses to accept it by faith. When Jesus sent out His twelve disciples, He commanded them to preach the Kingdom of God, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons. “Freely you have received, freely give,” Jesus told them. (Matthew 10:5)
The disciples knew a good thing. Month after month, Jesus infused them with His love, mercy, wisdom, peace, and teachings. Now they must share those gifts with others. As must we, in gratitude for freeing us from our sin.
Lord, thank You for Your gift of freedom. May we honor it, just as the Pilgrims did in the 1600s, by serving You in obedience to Your Word and by sharing it with those around us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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