A Thought For Your Christian Journey:

Earning Their Sacrifice

Romans 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

This last Monday America remembered those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of our liberty.  On Memorial Day each of us are called upon to recall that freedom is never free, but it comes with an exorbitant price tag.  Multitudes have sacrificially given their time, many have shed their life’s blood, and more than we like to recall have given their lives that we might be the Land Of The Free.  Every American ought to be reverently thankful for this unspeakable gift.

 What we often fail to realize is that their sacrifice comes with its own price tag.  Their blood calls us to live lives that are worthy of their suffering.  Each American should not only remember them but also find themselves called to a different kind of life because of them.  I fear many have lost a sense of this calling.

 When I think of the requirement of their blood I think of at least three things.  First, I think of honor.  Americans should live honorable lives because it is the demand of their blood.  To somehow think that the freedom they bought for us was intended to be the kind of liberty that results in vile and wretched lives does not seem honoring to their sacrifice.  We ought to hold a deep sense of honor and right because of the incredible price that was and is being paid for our freedom.  Living an honorable life is one way to honor their blood.

 Secondly, I think of responsibility.  Responsibility is something that seems to be woefully lacking in American society today.  But what is honor and what is freedom without responsibility, they become mere chaos.  The willingness to take responsibility for liberty on the battlefield should bring the highest regard for responsibility in our lives.  We should honorably consider what our responsibilities are for the decisions we make in the liberty they have bought for us.

 Thirdly, integrity comes to my mind.  What kind of integrity does it take for one of our troops to suffer under a terrorist’s wrath or ruthless leaders forces?  It takes a courage and integrity that most Americans never want to really grapple with.   It is their integrity that calls each of us to live with a deep sense of our own integrity.  By the way, integrity is more than honesty, it is honesty, honor and responsibility all they way to the core of your being. 

If we will memorialize those who have given life’s ultimate sacrifice for us, then let their memory call you to honor, responsibility, integrity, and much more.  Anything less only recalls them, but does not honor them, and does not acknowledge what they bled and died for. 

By the way there was another sacrifice many years ago that calls us to these same three characteristics, that is the sacrifice made by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  May His sacrifice and resurrection call you to a new kind of living and liberty as well.

 Published May 29, 2007

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