Freedom

The July 2025 issue of the monthly newsletter published by the Bible Broadcasting Network (BBN) contains an article written by Carl Redemann, who is the Executive Director of that multi-faceted ministry. 

He began the article with a reference to the long-ago night when General George Washington led a daring crossing of the Delaware River and launched a surprise attack that reignited the American Revolution. 

Redemann writes, “They were not fighting for territory, but for a dream–the dream of a land, where men and women could live freely, speak freely, and most importantly, worship freely.”

Although many of those brave men would not live to see the freedom they were dying for, they fought bravely in the monumental battle that changed history.

But, as Redemann points out, there is another battle with even greater impact. That battle was waged on a hill called Calvary where God’s Beloved Son was nailed to the cross. As the beaten and bleeding Son hung there, He was fighting for freedom for guilty sinners like you and me: freedom from the chains of sin, freedom from the curse of death, freedom from the power of hell itself. As that battle of all battles continued, the sky turned black. The earth shook. With one final breath, Jesus cried out in victory, “It is finished!“

That greatest of all battles for freedom had been won, not by the sword, but by the sacrifice of Jesus.

On Independence Day, may we give thanks for all the courageous men and women who have battled bravely for the cause of freedom. May we be even more grateful for the One who shed His life’s blood to provide freedom from the power of sin, freedom from the penalty of sin, and, ultimately, freedom from the very presence of sin.

Last Days

Today I read the Biblical accounts (found in the Gospels) of how Jesus spent His last days on this earth. As I compiled a lengthy list, I noticed that, basically, He simply continued to do what He had been doing. He served others by healing them, by teaching them spiritual truths to live by, by answering questions put to Him by His disciples (and by those who didn’t believe He was who He said He was), by preparing them for His departure, and by comforting them with the assurance of His future return and with the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit who would be their indwelling teacher and comforter.

Since He had always done whatever pleased the Father, Jesus needed to make no major changes in His daily practices. However, by the end of the week, He would face His greatest challenge and, thereby, teach the greatest lesson of all: how to obey the Father and to serve Him and others with great love, even though He would suffer--and die--in the process.

As I reflected on His example, I thought:

• Is my life so aligned with the Father’s will that I wouldn’t need to dramatically alter what I’m doing if I knew I would die within a week? 
• Can I say, as Jesus did, “I always do the will of the Father,” that I obey my Father at all times--no matter the high cost of obedience? 
• Can I truthfully say to God, what Jesus said in John 17:4, “I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave me to do”? 

If not, I must begin TODAY to fully align my will with His and to let my daily attitudes and actions be in accordance with His wishes.

A World Apart

(My brother's coffin and flowers.)


Each time I’ve visited national cemeteries, I’ve sensed a reverential silence hovering over them. Visitors, even very young ones, speak softly. Some kneel beside a grave or stoop to arrange a bouquet of flowers. Others sit in contemplative silence underneath shade-giving trees. The atmosphere there seems a world apart from the hustle and bustle taking place outside.

Such was my experience the day my family and I visited Punchbowl, the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, located in Hawaii. Inside that almost perfectly round crater of an extinct volcano, we walked along on paved paths that meandered past the grass-covered graves of over 33, 000 men and women who had lost their lives while fighting to preserve freedom for the citizens of the United States and its allies.

As we strolled along that picture-perfect day, I became increasingly aware of the magnitude of the sacrifices that had been made. In addition to seeing row upon row upon row of marked graves, I saw, inscribed on the massive marble walls to the right and to the left of the series of steep steps leading to the upper areas of the cemetery, the names of Missing in Action soldiers (26, 280 of them!).

Each of the more than 100 national cemeteries contains the bodies of thousands of fallen military heroes. For example, over 250,000 are entombed at Arlington, which is near Washington, DC.

Thus, the price paid, in terms of human suffering, is astronomical, especially if this fact is taken into consideration: All those thousands of men and women left behind loved ones whose grief followed them to their graves.

But in the idyllic national cemeteries, there’s little evidence of the hellish conditions many of the soldiers experienced before death provided a merciful escape. Peace reigns in the garden-like places where their bodies rest. That’s as it should be, for no group is more deserving of serenity than those who experienced the atrocities of war.

These words of Sir Walter Scott, the Scottish writer and poet who lived 1771-1832, articulate far better than any words of my own the feeling in my heart as I’ve strolled past row upon row of graves in several cemeteries: “Soldier, rest! Thy warfare o’er, / Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking, / Dream of battled fields no more. / Days of danger, nights of waking” (The Lady of the Lake, 1810).

Every Memorial Day observance calls upon us to remember the sacrifices and the contributions made in the past. Each one also reminds us to give thanks and to pray for those who are currently doing their best, often at great personal cost to themselves and their loved ones, to ensure that the precious freedoms secured in the past are preserved until that future time when all wars will have ceased and the Prince of Peace will reign forevermore.

Then, “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things [will have] passed away” (Revelation 21:4, New International Version).

©2010 by Johnnie Ann Burgess Gaskill, who welcomes comments.