I have decided...
Day 17: January 20th, 2021
COMMITMENT… BECAUSE WE’RE FORGIVEN
Luke 7:47 – “ To the one whose many sins have been forgiven, that one shows great love.”
Several years ago in the unlikely town of Fulton, Missouri, the town fathers directed huge chunks of concrete to be hauled onto the local college campus. They knew there would be no better backdrop for a historic speech to be given in their little city. As chunks of concrete go, they weren’t particularly attractive. In fact, they were pitted, scarred by blows, and smeared with garish graffiti. But to those who saw them, carefully situated behind a podium on the broad green campus lawn, they were beautiful.
The speech was by Mikail Gorbachev, former leader of the former Soviet Union, in commemoration of another speech given decades before in that same place by Sir Winston Churchill. In that earlier speech – on the same campus, behind the same podium Churchill coined the phrase “Iron Curtain” to describe the conditions in Eastern Europe.
Half a century later, an ex-Soviet strongman stood at the microphone to talk about freedom…against a backdrop of large chunks from a fallen Berlin Wall, the actual remnants of that once-daunted “Iron Curtain.”
Freedom. What a wonderful word it is, and what a wonderful state to live in. Here in the U.S., we are blessed with a measure of freedom that is remarkable in the annals of modern history. Yet this social freedom pales in comparison with the spiritual freedom we know and experience in Jesus Christ. John 8:36 – So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” In him, we have been liberated eternally. And because of that freedom He has given us, we are motivated to commit wholeheartedly and unreservedly to Him.
When we participate in the Activity of the Kingdom of God, we are ensuring that the message of freedom in Jesus Christ continues to go forth from this place. It is because we are free that we must do everything possible to spread the message of freedom to our community and beyond.
Prayer Focus: Pray for our elders and deacons. Pray also for the bond of unity to be strong among our entire leadership team, and for God to grant us His divine wisdom to govern this body.