The source of my “addiction” to this crazy show can be traced to a friend of mine who attends and serves in our church, Randy Weeks. I went over to Independence to see Randy after he had “laid his motorcycle down” and severely broke his leg. We visited, I prayed for Randy and got ready to leave and he handed me a three disc DVD of Duck Dynasty series one. Ever since, I’ve been a fan.
If you’ve not seen Duck Dynasty, it’s a show as clean and family oriented as “Andy of Mayberry” or “Leave it to Beaver”. Every episode ends with prayer. It’s a reality show about a family in Louisiana who are through and through red-necks. They hunt ducks, deer, frogs and crawfish. They don’t trust food they can buy in the store so they live off the land. But what’s unusual about this family composed of an older couple, their three grown sons and their wives and children and a crazy brother, Uncle Si, is that they are millionaires.
You see, Phil Robertson, the grandfather and paternal leader of this show invented a duck call years ago that transformed duck hunting. He began to market this duck call and with the help of his sons, has turned this duck call technology into a multi-million dollar corporation.
My son Josh is also a fan of Duck Dynasty and for Father’s Day, bought me a copy of Phil Robertson’s book “Happy, Happy, Happy”. It’s a fun read, a biography of Phil’s life. As Phil shares his life story of growing up in the bayous of Louisiana, playing football at Louisiana Tech, marrying his high school sweetheart Kay and having a family, you see a man who has had a world of life experiences.
Phil, a devout born-again Christian, spent his early adult years living the wild life. Drinking, smoking pot, breaking hunting laws, running with the wild crowd and nearly losing his marriage are the first few chapters. But then Phil met Jesus. His life literally turned around. He was a new man and the old desires of wallowing in sin and running from God were over.
Grace will do that to you. Grace is the internal working of the Holy Spirit that brings true freedom to Jesus followers. Grace is not an excuse to sin, leading people into more and more bondage. Grace is the raw God power within that draws us away from sin and into true freedom.
Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Grace gives us different desires. We see life through different lenses. I have said that I can get drunk and commit adultery as much as I want to. I just DON’T WANT TO. That’s grace. Grace is not a teaching. It is not a doctrine. It is not a topic in a Bible curriculum. Grace is a person and His name is Jesus. And when Jesus enters your life, you are a new person. You are truly free to live a self-controlled, upright and godly life which is real freedom.
My dear friends, as we prepare to celebrate the freedom we enjoy as a nation, take a moment and thank God for the freedom you have as a redeemed, righteous and forgiven child of God. Christianity is not the sacrifice we make, but the sacrifice we trust.