Independence

Our independence in America and our independence as Christians are pretty much the same thing if you think about it deeply enough. As Americans we are enjoying freedoms and rights that we did not earn, sure there are people today who are helping to ensure we keep those freedoms but very few are alive who have truly fought for them. Our freedoms have come from a long, long time ago a group of men and women called soldiers gave their lives willingly so that we could enjoy such freedoms. Christianity is the same, not one single person to ever walk this earth other than JEsus Christ has done anything to earn us the freedoms and eternal life that we receive as believers. Not one of us will ever do anything that even remotely resembles someone who can earn or deserve such things as what God pours out on His children.
Think of it this way, I remember a time when I had to go downtown regularly to drop off things for my boss. I would drive downtown and look for a parking space, and beleiver it or not usually there were a few close to my destination. But, those parking spaces weren't quite what I was looking for, so I would drive around the blocks a few times. What was I looking for? That one meter that was sitting there with time left on it, a space that someone had vacated before their money ran out. I would park, run into the building dropping off what I needed to and run back outside to the car trying to make sure I didn't put one penny of my own money in that meter. It was a great feeling knowing I hadn't wasted my money on that trip, so I would in a sense be parking on someone else's quarters. That's what citizenship in America is, we are parking on someone else's hard earned expenditures. More importantly that is exactly what Christianity is, we are parking on God's quarters. God sent His ownly Son to die on a cross for our sins and for our eternal life and nothing we do or say can add to that or ever take the place of that.
I got excited when I was able to park on someone else's quarters, I should daily be 100 times as excited about the cahnce to one day park in Heaven with Jesus Christ on God's quarters!
Thanks for reading and have an awesome Hump Day!