Saturday, December 21, 2013

For Our Friends in the Ukraine


My understanding is that whatever the ramifications of your struggle politically, you wish to be free.  Ultimately I believe that is what God desires for all His children.  That freedom begins with freedom from sin made possible by Christ’s sacrifice upon the Cross for the sins of all men.  Freedom from sin is the basis of all true freedom.  If one is free in the political sense, but not free from sin, that person is not free.  But, if one is free from sin he cannot be imprisoned no matter in what prison he may be incarcerated.  The Apostle Paul demonstrated this with his life—being frequently imprisoned.

Paul was in a local prison—your desire is that the whole of the Ukraine not become a prison.  This may be a tough battle for you.  For some, you may have to yield your lives but concerning this Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13).  Further, you need to “Google” the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” written in 1861 by Julia Ward Howe which could well become your “Battle Hymn”.  Please pay attention to the verse that says, “As He (Christ) died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.”

From the price American military persons have paid serving in various wars has arisen the saying, “Freedom is not free”.  If you genuinely want freedom, you must die for it.

I’m so sorry the American administration has not seen fit to intervene on your behalf in any way, but as a “believer” I can stand by you and pray God will strengthen you for the task that lies ahead.  And perhaps it might be said of you as of Old Testament Queen Esther by Mordecai, “Yet, who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14b)?

Finally, the Apostle Paul said, “What then shall we say to these things?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  (Romans 8:31). 

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