The upcoming weekend is a very special one in the United States. It is more than a three day weekend for many people. It is more than the Coca-Cola 600 and the Indy 500. It is a time set aside to reflect and remember those who gave their life in defense of this country. We owe so much to our men and women in the military, police officers, firefighters, and EMTs. The blanket of protection you and I sleep under each day and night in this country came at the expense of one of these brave men and women. Freedom isn’t free.
Yet there was another who paid a ransom with His life so that we might be free from the penalty of sin. Had it not been for Jesus willingly laying down His life for the world, we would suffer a fate far greater than being enslaved by another nation. We would suffer in the lake of fire for all of eternity. As much gratitude as we owe our men and women in uniform, we owe Jesus so much more. We owe Him our life, because if He didn’t lay down His life, we wouldn’t even have a life worth living. Yet Jesus is not a tyrant demanding we pay Him. His request is quite simple. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” “Love others as yourself.” His request is that we live a life surrendered to His Lordship, demonstrating our love and devotion to Him by serving one another in love. Jesus lived out the words of John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Now it is up to us not just to say that we love God, but to demonstrate it with our life.
On behalf of our church family, myself, and my family, thank you to the men and women currently serving our country as well as to those families who lost a loved one who died defending our freedom. May we always remember, freedom isn’t free, it always cost someone else.
By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him