DEPENDENCE DAY!
On the fourth of July, we celebrated Independence Day. This is a federal holiday that celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. This important and wonderful day declared the beginning of freedom for those in America! But there is a day that is far more important than Independence Day, and it is the day of DEPENDENCE. Yes! I said it right, Dependence Day! This day of Dependence, according to scripture, is always today. It is the day of complete rest. We cease from our own works and enter into the freedom granted by the payment of the blood of Jesus Christ. Look at what the writer of Hebrews says:
Hebrews 4:6-11 Therefore, it still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath- rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
So often people depend on their good works and Christian service to feel righteous before God and okay about themselves. This, therefore, alienates them from the glorious, but many times elusive, state of being, the state of living with the all-consuming mindset of being loved, forgiven and free. The greatest freedom ever experienced by man is when he resolutely chooses to depend on God and God alone for being righteous in God’s sight and for feeling right. This is where attaining to that amazing life is no longer elusive, but a daily reality! It is time to let go of all trying to deserve God and enter into the freedom of Christ, the place of rest! Are you ready for your freedom? May today mark a new turn towards heaven’s freedom in your life! May today be the day you throw an extravagant party as you declare with unwavering conviction your…