Boston Tea Party

You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19b (NKJV)

December 16, 1773. Boston officials refuse to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain; colonists board the ships, throwing the tea into Boston Harbor. This event was significant for America’s road to freedom. Colonists toiled under heavy taxation as “Englishmen,” but with no true representation in England. They had no one to fight for them.

Today the world taxes us in other ways, like pride, deceit, hate, and slander. These things take a toll on us; we pay in greed, guilt, loneliness, depression, and cruelty. But do not forget: we are not citizens of this world. We are citizens of Heaven. How long did our forefathers tolerate injustice before taking a stand? How long will we endure the yoke of sin before escaping its cold grasp?

We need not carry that yoke. We can relinquish it in an instant. Unlike the colonists, who had no one to speak for them, we have an advocate. He paid our debt, and we are free. When we sin, He says, “no condemnation.” When Satan accuses, God says, “mercy rejoices against judgment.” When the world calls us unlovely, He says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” And when situations declare, “you can’t do it,” He says, “my grace is sufficient.”

April 15, 2013. This year, as tax time rolls around, don’t fret. Have your own Boston Tea Party. Throw those besetting sins and attitudes of this world overboard—into the sea of forgetfulness—and walk with your heads high. You are children of the King and royal citizens of Heaven.

Father, thank you for your Son, who paid such a high price to make us free.

© 2013 Katherine A. Fuller