To the Jews who had believed in him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31,32).
“That on the first day of January, a.d. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free. . . .”
With those words, Abraham Lincoln began what is today called the Emancipation Proclamation. Signed on September 22, 1862, the Emancipation Proclamation declared slaves in areas still in rebellion against the United States free. It was a historic and long-overdue event. Thomas Jefferson originally wanted to include a denunciation of slavery in the Declaration of Independence, but it was removed to appease two southern states.
Following the Civil War, the United States government faced a daunting task. Besides the difficulty of rebuilding a war-torn nation, they had to deal with hundreds of thousands of former slaves. These men and women were for the most part poor, mistreated, and uneducated. Now free from their former masters, many faced the cruel reality that they had no place to go. The task of bringing this large portion of the population up to speed economically and educationally has been a long and difficult journey for our country.
On the Fourth of July, we as Americans celebrate our freedom. We take great pride in the many freedoms we enjoy as citizens of this land: freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion.
Despite our freedom, the sad truth is that all of us by nature are slaves. We are slaves to sin. Although we may not want to, we daily sin against God in thought, word, and deed. We are slaves to death. Even with advances in medicine, exercise, and plastic surgery, we all will die one day. By nature we are all slaves.
But we have been set free. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ issued his own Emancipation Proclamation on a dark and lonely Friday afternoon some 2,000 years ago. Hanging limply on the cross, he cried out: “It is finished” (John 19:30). He had suffered the punishment of our sins. He was suffering the death that we deserve. All was now paid. Freedom was ours.
We are now free. Sin and death have no power over us. Our sins have been punished. For Christians, death is the door to eternal life.
God has given us our independence. On our own, however, we find ourselves in the same situation as many of those former slaves after the Civil War: poor, alone, and scared. But we are not alone. God has freed us in order that we might trust in him. He has given us our independence so that we might depend on him for all things. He has freed us from our slavery to sin, death, and the devil so that we might serve him with joyful and thankful hearts.
Jesus, your Great Emancipator, has set you free. Live in that freedom every day of your life.
Prayer:
Dear Jesus, thank you for setting me free. Help me to thank you by living for you every day of my life. Amen.
From 364 Days of Devotion: A Devotional Book. All rights reserved.
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