It is time to pull out the red, white and blue recipes, the American flag t-shirts, buy some fireworks and get the grill ready. The Fourth of July is almost here.
Do you have a special tradition each year with your family and friends to celebrate the freedom we have in our country? Do you go to the lake, the beach or grill in the backyard? On July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed to proclaim America’s separation from Great Britain.
As you celebrate the birth of our country with your children, I am sure you express the joy we have as free Americans. In a similar way Christians can celebrate the freedom we have because of Christ each day, and we can share Christ with our family on this special holiday.
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Ideas to share
Following are some ideas for how to share:
First, we have freedom from sin because of Christ. The freedom we have in our country is beautiful. We have this freedom because of the men and women who fought before us, those that are fighting today and those that will continue to fight. Thank you to those who have served and are serving in our military.
If you are a Christian then you can also celebrate the freedom we have from sin because of Christ death, burial, resurrection and ascension. Jesus went before us and paid the debt we deserved by dying on the cross for our sins. Colossians 2:14 reads, “having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”
Everyone is born a slave to sin but can be set free by repenting of their sins and proclaim their belief in Christ as the Son of God, their Savior and Lord. This can only be done because of God’s perfect grace.
Romans 6:18 reminds us of this freedom, “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” Because of Christ’s sacrifice we are not slaves to sin anymore. Before Christ, sin had victory over us, now you can believe in the one who has victory over sin.
Second, use your freedom wisely. As an American citizen we should use our freedom wisely. We should represent our country well through our attitude, how we represent our country and the knowledge of our country’s history. Christians should use their freedom wisely as well. Christians are citizens of heaven and should represent God well.
Galatians 5:13 reads, “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather serve one another humbly in love.”
If you are a Christian, represent God through the words you say and how you live your life. As Christians we die to our own sinful ways and live for Christ. While you live in America, or anywhere else in this world, your citizenship is not of this world. Think about how you can live your life of freedom from sin and live for righteousness wisely today. Live your life differently from the world and live for Christ.
Third, strive for peace. Hebrews 12:14 says, “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”
Scripture encourages Christians to work toward peace with others in hopes that others will come to know Christ as well. Peace does not mean tolerance, but it does mean to show God’s love toward others and to avoid conflict if possible. Conflict will occur but as Christians we want to finish well in all we do and strive for peace with each conversation we face.
As you discuss this topic with your children define the words “freedom” and “peace” along the way.
You might also enjoy these crafts and activities as you celebrate:
Crafts:
- 4th of July Lantern
— Supplies: toilet paper rolls, tape, paint brushes, tea lights, a hole punch, red, white and blue paint.
— Paint your toilet paper roll red, white and blue; Be creative and have fun! After the paint dries use your hole punch to punch holes around the toilet paper roll. Place the toilet paper roll over the tea light and use tape to keep it secure. Turn the tea light on and see the light peeking through.
- Fireworks
— Supplies: Pipe cleaners, black paper, red, white and blue paint. (Add glitter if you are really brave.)
— Grab five pipe cleaners and hold them in one hand about three quarters of the way down. Fan out the bottom of the pipe cleaners to make them look like spider legs. Place the pipe cleaners’ legs in the red, white or blue paint then stamp the pipe cleaner on the black paper. Repeat this process until you have used each color. (Sprinkle on glitter if you would like to add more detail.) You have just made fireworks in the night sky.
A message to share along with the craft: John 8:12 reminds us “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” Why would someone need light? To see in the dark, of course, so they do not stumble and fall. Jesus is the light in this dark sinful world. If you want to walk in the light, you must follow Jesus through faith by grace. Next time, you look at your lantern or your fireworks craft remember that Jesus is the true light of the world.
Activities:
- Find and unscramble
— Supplies: 7 pieces of paper and a marker
— On each piece of paper write a letter from the word “Freedom.” Hide each letter around the room, your house or outside and encourage your children to find each letter and try to figure out what the word is by unscrambling the letters. If younger children are having a difficult time finding the letters, play hot and cold to help them.
— Once they have found each letter and unscrambled the letters into “Freedom” then discuss the topic above. You can add, “Just like you found the word ‘Freedom’ in our game you can find freedom from sin in Christ.”
- Freedom hopscotch
— Supplies: A bean bag, chalk and a place to draw a hopscotch board outside.
— After you draw hopscotch write one of these words in each square: freedom, Jesus, sin, fireworks, peace, America, repentance and Heaven. You can also have squares that are blank.
— Encourage your child to stand at the first square and toss the bean bag to land on a square. Once a bean bag has landed on a square have him/her hop to that square and define the word their bean bag landed on. If they don’t know the definition of that word or how it is associated with the 4th of July then help them define the word.
— Mark out each word as you go along, you can give points when someone can define a word.
— If someone lands on a blank square ask him/her to say what their favorite story is about Jesus.
Share with others: