Word of the week - Memorial Day - Remember
“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 13:12-13
Memorial Day weekend we celebrate something that I think is sometimes hard for us to comprehend: the ultimate act of love – to lay down one’s life down for others. This sacrifice of our fallen service men and women who paid this ultimate sacrifice for the sake of our freedom. In recent years I've heard many conflicted views on this matter. I think it would be a mistake to see these brave men and women as merely victims. While each fallen soldier has a unique story, each soldier is a hero who gave their lives for a greater cause. I think part of our struggle to understand the fallen soldier comes with our difficulty in accepting sacrifice, especially when a sacrifice seems so final and appears to hold no obvious reward. The idea that someone could give up everything - for people they don’t even know - is hard to process. We spend so much of life trying to gain, to acquire, to win. Our country is home to the American Dream, the land of opportunity. So remembering the fallen solider can feel uncomfortable, but it is most important to remember the Sacrifice. This is the only way we will be willing to do what is necessary to protect our freedom as a nation. May we never forget!!!!
On this Memorial Day we remember the 1.2 million men and women who made the ultimate Sacrifice by giving their lives in service of our Country, I am reminded of the sobering reality of the true price of freedom, and how fortunate we are to live in the United States of America, “the land of the free” because of the price others paid for our freedom. I am very grateful and humbled by this amazing reality. Click the following link to watch a short 5-minute video “Path of the Warrior” tribute to remembering the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for me and you Memorial Day Tribute .
In a similar frame, I am even more grateful for the fact that God freely chose to come down to earth in the flesh as Jesus our Messiah and was crucified for our sins, so we can have eternal freedom (salvation) and live with God forever. “For it is for Freedom that Christ set us free” Galatians 5:1. “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love” Galatians 5:13. Let us remember who God is and what He has done for us through the Cross and let this be our motivation to live the great commandment to “Love God and Love others” by serving God and others in Love. Lord, I pray that we would remember and understand the reality of what others have done for us as Americans and even more amazingly what you have done for us as Christians and never forget the suffering you endured for our benefit. Let us receive the fullness of your love and Sacrifice.
-Duane