Free

On MLK day yesterday, I was considering the freedom that I enjoy as a woman of color in this country: the freedom to vote, to own a home in a diverse neighborhood, to send my children to an integrated school, to obtain an education, and work in a professional position, just to name a few. These are freedoms that I do not take for granted for I understand that they were achieved through the blood, sweat, tears, and prayer of countless men and women who have gone before me. These are freedoms that many of my ancestors never knew, and others only realized after nearly a lifetime of suffering. No. I cannot take them for granted. I am a grateful beneficiary.

In addition to the freedoms that are afforded me because of civil rights legislation, I have an even greater freedom, an eternal freedom, because of one act, committed by one man. While the civil rights movement certainly moved our country in the right direction, it was imperfect in that it could not legislate the hearts of man. It could not force anyone to espouse the principle that "all men are created equally" nor could it completely erase the lingering effects of hundreds of years of slavery, nor the ramifications of the Jim Crow South.

This freedom that is available in Christ is comprehensive. It completely transforms heart and mind, rendering a new creation. And to me, that is freedom worth dying for. For, "if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36