Come and Take It
Prior to Texas Independence, the little town of Gonzales, Texas was given a single cannon in 1831 to defend itself from the Comanche Indians in the area. Four years later, the Mexican government was attempting to stifle the idea of rebellion in Texas and decided to take the town’s cannon back. The little town posed no real threat especially since they had no ammunition to even fire the cannon but the Mexicans were determined. Prior to the skirmish, the men who had determined to stay and defend the cannon and the town created a banner featuring the cannon and wrote the words “Come and take it.” The unintended consequence of this fight would be the beginning of the War for Texas Independence. A movement that would give us the famous line “Remember the Alamo!”
Independence and liberty are near and dear to my heart. However, I am not sure that I can even fathom the love of those words found in the hearts and minds of those few at Gonzales, the Alamo or our Founding Fathers of these United States. We take great pride and luxury in the idea of freedom. Sometimes that pride comes into direct conflict with my relationship with God. Don’t get me wrong, God has given us his law of perfect liberty (James 1:25, 2:12). His perfect liberty and my desire to do as I please do not get along. The Apostle Paul speaks of this conflict throughout his letter to the Romans (5-8,13-14). We have tremendous liberty in Christ. There are no words that accurately describe the freedom in Jesus which oftentimes can be frustrating for us as I’m sure it was for his early disciples. There are other aspects that are frustrating but also blessings. The responsibility that comes with that great freedom is thinking of others before yourself (Philippians 2:1-8).
Unfortunately, the issue with a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1) is we also have the option to stop being the sacrifice. We can get up and walk away at any time. When I am tempted to do just that, I’m reminded of the rest of Philippians 2 beginning in verse 9 and wrapping up with verse 11 that says “every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD”. This is hostile towards my understanding of free will and Paul is not making apologies for it. Neither will God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Neither should your preacher, elders, deacons or your parents. God gives us the freedom to choose but he also forces the issue. If you are a Christian, you made the choice at your conversion but it is a multiple-times-a-day choice as well. How I respond to a harsh word or difficult situation brings my commitment to that choice I made at twelve years old into view. There have been a lot of decisions since then and there will be more to come. Your decision to read this article then leads to your decision to allow it to affect your day. So on and so on it goes.
We all in some shape, form or fashion raise a banner to God that says “Come and take it.” Some raise the banner out of stubbornness in their heart towards the Creator. To those I would say “Be careful what you ask for.” Some of us raise it from weariness of the world’s problems or our circumstances (Psalm 116). Some of us raise it out of the desire to see our LORD’s face (Philippians 1:21). One thing is for certain, we will all get our wish one day.
Travis