“Whether at war with each other or with a common enemy, we will not remain free without giving our lives for each other.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – May 30, 2022
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. John 15:13
Memorial Day is a mournful memory of thanksgiving for those who have sacrificed for our country’s freedom. Freedoms that sometimes come into conflict with one another, yet we can still unify around our mutual gratitude and grief over the ultimate sacrifice of life for our liberty. We pause and pray to reflect and honor their names, value their life and death. It is the memory of sacrifice, suffering, industriousness and integrity that instills a humbling heritage. Men and women gave their lives in battle that we might gain our lives of freedom. Blood-soaked, foreign fields protected liberty at home—a painful but grateful memory.
Memorial Days are the most meaningful when we take time to pause and pray. We thank God in sincere supplication for His favor in our engagement with the enemy, past and present. On our knees we acknowledge almighty God as the genesis for our great country. He led His people here to establish a nation founded on faith in Christ. If we fail to remember many of our nation’s leaders as figures of faith, then we fail as Christian citizens.
John Adams clearly stated the prerequisite of faith for a nation to be governed by a constitution that protects life and liberty for its citizens: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Abraham Lincoln eloquently recognized the memory of those who gave their lives to allow our nation to live: “We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives, that the nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.” Whether at war with each other or with a common enemy, we will not remain free without giving our lives for each other. Our freedoms are secure to the extent we surrender to the Lord and to one another.
Most of all, celebrate the memory of Christ’s death on the cross for your sins. His abundant grace is reason enough for righteous reflection. Is your salvation in Jesus still sweet and savory to your soul? Do you recount often the Lord’s tender mercy toward you and your family? Remember how ecstatic you felt when Sovereign God engaged your soul with faith and forgiveness? Keep fresh your conversion experience.
Your testimony of trust in Jesus Christ—now and at your conversion—is a memorial to your Master’s faithfulness. The death of Jesus for our soul’s freedom and the death of men and women for our nation’s soul makes the most meaningful Memorial Days. Honor Him and honor them by promoting our liberties as a gift from almighty God.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
Prayer
Thank you Lord for those who have given their life, so I might enjoy my life of freedom and faith in Jesus, through Christ’s love, and in His name I pray.
Application
Pray with your family and thank God for those who gave their lives for your freedom and praise Him for your freedom in Christ.
Related Reading
Exodus 20:8; Leviticus 2:9; Psalm 77:11; John 15:20–27
Worship Resource
Hillsong Worship: Freedom
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