It is easy to take our freedom as Americans for granted. Freedom of speech, right to bear arms, freedom to worship openly, right to vote for anyone over 18...and the list goes on. It is easy to forget that in other places of the world the basic freedoms that we take advantage of everyday are being challenged.
The above article reminds us that we should praise God everyday for the opportunity to live freely in a country where we can openly profess our faith. And yet we, myself included, complain about the weather, the ecomony and how "hard" it is to be a Christian in America. Kind of puts things into perspective, doesn't it? Though he is imprisioned and awaiting a death sentence, Youcef Nadarkhani is free - free in Christ. He is no longer slave to this world, but a servant of righteousness. Exercising his freedom in Christ may cost him his life. Would you do the same?
Romans 6:16-18 "16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness."
Galatians 4:3-9 "So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God."
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