Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death

"But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing." James 1:25

Patrick Henry said the words, "Give me liberty, or give me death!" at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia to the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775.  It was a call to action.  The leaders of this new country soon to officially become the United States of America, had advanced so far, but there was work to be done and there was no turning back now. The peace desired would only come by joining hands with the soldiers in the field to do the hard work.

Jesus calls us to a similar task, and the peace only He can give requires an action, a submission to His will and a complete obedience to Him. It requires looking into the perfect law, the law of liberty, the law of His great love for us.  It requires never giving up—no matter how hard the battle. It requires being a man, a woman of active obedience.

And we never have to face this battle alone. He is always with us.

In John 11:25-26 we read Jesus' conversation with Martha, bereft at the death of her brother, Lazarus, "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?'”

To choose anything but the real liberty only following Jesus can bring, is to choose death. And this death is more than just an earthly death. It is death eternally, separated from the love of God.

This Independence Day, won't you join me in choosing to depend on the person of real life and liberty, the person of Jesus Christ?

Goodnight, Runners.