Dear Church Family,
I was reflecting yesterday on last year’s great Memorial Day Picnic and lamenting the fact that we could not do it this year. Bonnie and I hope you all had a restful and blessed day. We are indebted to so many who have given their lives to secure and preserve our freedom.
We were watching the Medal of Honor Forum from the Reagan Library and it was a wonderful time of interaction with four of the seventy-one living individuals honored by being presented with our nation’s highest honor.
One of the more touching moments during the forum was when one of the men was responding to a question and said that he was not the hero of that day, but the seven men who died and made it possible for him to do what he was able to do. He then proceeded to state their names, just like he had been with them yesterday.
Hearing this would touch any patriotic heart, but it has a special impact on the believer – not because we are more patriotic than anyone else, but because of what we know the Scripture says.
Romans 5:5-8 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
You can certainly understand why that Medal of Honor winner remembered his sacrificial comrades so well. How could one ever forget their sacrifice that day—they were friends who were willing to put their lives on the line for those they loved and were loved by—it would be unnatural if he did not remember every name.
But your God, believer, out of unrequited love to you, while you were in a state of rebellion and natural hatred towards Him, sent His only Begotten Son to die for you, that you might live. Jesus said,
John 10:10b I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Every moment of joy that you as a believer experience in this world is a result of the liberty purchased for you at the cross. Your Jesus placed Himself between you and the crossfire of the enemy—the grave, the Law and death itself.
Revelation 5:11-12 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”
