On this day in 1865, the 13^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified.

The 13^th Amendment abolished slavery. This didn’t end racism and discrimination in the United States, but at least the terrible act of one human being enslaving another was illegal.

In America we understand and value freedom. Not only do we stand against slavery, but we also guard carefully the other freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution. But here’s a startling truth—people, even Americans, are slaves and not truly free at all.

The Bible tells us that every person is born a sinner and is a slave to sin. No matter how nice we are and how hard we try, we cannot go a day without sinning. Those sins separate us from God. He’s holy and perfect, and we are very unholy and imperfect. So we have no freedom to come to him and even to do what is right.

That’s where Christ comes in. When we trust in him, he frees us from our bondage to sin and from our slave-master, Satan. And he frees us to make the right choices and to follow him. Instead of slaves, we become God’s very own children.

We don’t need an amendment to the Constitution to make this true. God’s Word—his “constitution”—guarantees it. You are free indeed!

So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God’s very own children, adopted into his family—calling him “Father, dear Father” (Romans 8:15).

To Do

Read the book of Philemon. It’s the story of a man who was a slave who became twice free.

Also on this day

This is St. Nicholas Day.

1877—Thomas Edison demonstrated the first gramophone, with a recording of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

1926—In Italy, Benito Mussolini introduced a tax on bachelors.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.