By: Doug Hill

4th of July celebrations are now over. The night sky, once lit by fireworks, is now illuminated once again by only moon and stars. Our national celebration of “independence day” can rest until this time next year. But freedom is something constant, not a once-per-year celebration. Freedom is something you either have or do not have. Independence is more than just a day that falls on July 4th each year. Independence is a way of life; a lifestyle.

Many feel that freedom and independence equate to living whatever way they choose to live. We are free to make our own choices. We tend to forget that choices have consequences, and eternal choices have eternal consequences. Logically enough, those consequences have much to do with how and where we will spend eternity

I believe that too much of what we call “independence” is really a form of slavery: slavery to the quest for power, bondage to possessions, servitude to alcohol or drugs, or a gnawing addiction to (you fill in the blank.) Are you free to pursue any or all of these things? Yes. Does that quest rob you of your independence? Again, the answer is “yes.”

Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church turn the values and thinking of this world upside down. Worldly values disguise slavery as a form of independence. Biblical truth boldly proclaims freedom through slavery to Christ. Saint Paul called it being a “bondservant.”

If you can reach a place where you give up all claims to yourself, you can throw yourself at the feet of the Master. Unconditional love is there. Grace (unmerited favor) is there. Freedom and independence are there. No longer do you have to be a slave in your quest for a temporal and temporary “golden ring.” When you find freedom and independence in Christ, the wonderful and eternal “golden ring” is already there as gift; freely given. There is tremendous freedom and independence in that.

I encourage all of you reading this to discover a real and independent lifestyle by giving all that you are to Jesus the Christ, through the Church he founded. You will no longer be enslaved to the things of this world. No longer will the things that will rust or burn rule your eternal. For the Bible makes this promise: “If you are free in Christ, then you are free indeed.”