Happy 4th!

On the topic of fireworks, let's not forget why we are celebrating today. Reread the Declaration of Independence (it's short). Thomas Jefferson and the Continental Congress lay out the reasons why a people not only have the right, but the duty before God, to dissolve one form of government in order to create another, when that government usurps authority not given it by God, and instead of serving the security and liberty of its people, change into the people's tyrannical despot.

Yes, God has imposed boundaries upon governments, and they cannot do whatever they wish. Romans 13 makes it clear that the government bears the sword in order to punish those who do evil, and to secure and reward those who do good. And what is the definition of good and evil? Since the authority to wield the sword comes from God, who as Creator of the universe is the absolute authority over all, it is His definition of good and evil that must be applied, and not man's, which is much different.

His definition is found in Torah, the dictionary for the entire Scriptures. God is immutable; His nature is unchanging. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His Word is immutable. It is fixed in the heavens, and even when heaven and earth pass away, His Word will not pass away. Neither have His definitions of good and evil, right and wrong, which are explained in Torah, changed.

So we are much less free today than we were 200 years ago, but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. We are free to live just as God has called us to live, in love and obedience to Him from the Spirit. We may be opposed by evil men, but greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world! Our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, has overcome the world. Even if our lives are forfeit, our life which is hid in Christ in God, is not forfeit. For the abundant life that is the free gift of God by grace through faith in His Son, can never be taken from us. On the day our temporal shells die, we simply cross the threshold from this world where man, sin, and pain rule to the next where God, our loving Daddy, reigns in mercy and righteousness on His throne.