My Debt
I write this on July 4, 2005.
My day has been blessed by being with the wife of my youth, and our eldest son and his four children. We enjoyed a delightful time together.
Much of the day is before us. Hopefully, we plan to be with about 100 church folks for fellowship. As darkness falls there is to be fireworks in celebration of the great freedom we enjoy in America.
To live in the most free and blessed country on earth is a privilege. Added to this blessing is the incredible freedom of being born again of the Spirit of God. Jesus is My Lord and Savior. In Jesus I have the highest and greatest liberty in this present life with assurance of eternal life.
Not a day passes in my life but that I weigh my privileges against my debts. That I am blessed is a fact. That I owe is also a fact. That my life is not my own is a fact. That I must lay down my life in service to others is a fact. That I must seek to be a giver and not a taker is a fact. That my debts to America and to Jesus are two debts I can not do enough to repay is a fact.
Laila gave me a daily devotional book of historical events, often the same date. Today’s July 4 devotion is special. In 1928 missionaries were sent to the Wallamo tribe of Ethiopia. Slave owners buried unneeded slave children alive. Worship of Satan was the religion. In nine years only 48 people were led to Christ.
The Italian army came in 1936 and defeated the Ethiopians. In 1937 Italians hauled away the missionaries. Among the few converts were leaders who were brutally beaten and persecuted in an attempt by the Italians to crush the fledgling church. Toro, one leader, was lashed 40 times and then jumped on by an Italian officer wearing hobnailed boots. Immobile in a prison cell Toro saw a vision of Jesus who said to Toro: “Do not be afraid. You are my child.”
Slowly Toro recovered and was released from prison. He again preached Jesus, was arrested again with other church leaders, stripped in a public place where each of the men was given more than a 100 lashes. Thrown back into prison, captors taunted: “Where is your Jesus. You will never get out of here alive.” To which Toro assured his captors that he did not know whether Jesus would deliver him from prison, but he knew that if Jesus did not deliver him from prison he would go to be with Jesus in a better place.
While the believers were having a prayer meeting in prison, a horrible storm came with gale-force winds and ripped off the roof, flooded much of the prison and washed away some foundation. Captors pleaded for Toro and leaders to pray for the storm to end. They did. The storm ended. Toro and his brethren were freed.
On July 4, 1943 missionaries were able to return to the Wallamo Tribe. They wondered what they would find. To their amazement they discovered that in six years the 48 believers had multiplied to 18,000! There was celebration, and there was recognition that the message of Jesus can have powerful results to free tribes and nations from demonic bondage.
If you have heard me say it once, you have heard me say it more than once. You are not blessed because you are so smart, so gifted, or so special to God that He gives you preferential treatment over other people less fortunate. You are blessed with national freedom because millions of people over 229 years have been injured and/or killed on battlefields to gain and protect our nation. You are blessed because countless people in American history have given their lives to discover better ways to grow and process food, to travel, to study and learn to enjoy the highest form of civilization that has ever been experienced by any nation on earth.
You are blessed because Jesus Christ came to earth, went to a cross, died for you, was buried, arose, is alive, and is your Intercessor beside the Heavenly Father. All this so you can be saved from your sins and have eternal life.
On this July 4, 2005, my question is whether or not you have decided that it is time to give back. What is your game plan for the rest of your life to help others have a better life? Who will you help feed? Who will you clothe? Who will you help to have a home? Who will you help to send with the gospel so those who have not heard can hear the gospel?
For this reason you live: To share God’s love with others! Enjoy your freedom, but remember freedom has a debt. Pay your debt while you live. Develop a plan for touching the lives of others with hope.
Grateful for my freedom,
Pastor Bare
John 8:36