My brothers and I grew up in the 90’s, and if you grew up in the 90s, you remember the summer of 1996 when a massive alien mothership hovered over our cities on the movie screens. Independence Day was an instant classic, with great action and special effects and Bill Pullman’s legendary presidential locker-room speech: "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!"

It’s a pretty exciting moment. Humanity, facing an overwhelming enemy, comes together and puts aside all its differences to unite, fight back, and win their freedom.

The Schmidt boys watch that movie every July 4th, but it also got me thinking about the real battles we face today.

We are all dealing with stuff, living under a shadow of some sort. Maybe it’s the shadow of a difficult medical diagnosis, a fractured relationship, financial stress, or just the heavy weight of this anxious and divided world. Like the characters in the movie, we often look up and feel completely overwhelmed. Our natural instinct is to dig in, pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, and try to fight our way back into the light.

But here is where our faith takes a really different approach than Hollywood.

In the movie, humanity had to save itself. But the message of the Gospel is that we don't have to. We don’t have to defeat the darkness on our own strength. Jesus already stepped into our world, faced the ultimate shadows of sin, despair, and death, and defeated them soundly on the cross.

Because of Him, we don't fight for freedom; we live in freedom. As Galatians 5:1 reminds us, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free."

This July, as you enjoy the fireworks and backyard barbecues, remember that you don't have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. The shadow doesn't win. Christ has already secured your independence from fear, guilt, and hopelessness.

I hope you have a great independence day!

Pastor Luke