We are called to remembrance, for many reasons, in this season particularly to remember the men and women who fought for the freedom to practice the greatness of our creation. The innate glory of our existence is something we fight for, die for, just so we could live for it. I pray the greatest commendation and honour would be granted to those who fight for the freedom to be human. Those who fight in war against oppression are displaying a very beautiful truth of Christ. Christ is the fullness of love and the beauty of what's within, is what love fights for. Christ fought for the innate glory of God within us to be set free and caused to abound in adoration of our Lord. Although I'm not sure that the motivation of the men and women in wars of justice are particularly the same as the war that Christ waged and is still waging, but I can commend them for two things:
1) These men and women lived for what they believe and cannot be accused for settling for the small things of this world. They went beyond their own comforts and freely chose to fight side by side for your comforts. These people lived beyond the boring average and live a greater, nobler and more beautiful life. I've been given a great honour to know of those who were willing to fight and not allow oppression and fear to rule over our lives. It is a true honour and we must take it more seriously. Veterans are not just people to be remembered for what they did, but people who are to be remembered for the noble triumph, valor and character that was displayed in choosing the choice to go.
Christians must take this reality much more seriously. We have been given a similar and noble cause. We have been given the opportunity to fight for the oppressed, weak and vulnerable. We have been given the opportunity to join forces with the King of kings to go into all the earth as he conquers and causes every knee to bow and every tongue to confess to His wonder. We have the opportunity to present the glory of God, that we would be set free from our small, paltry glory of man. We are given much more than the choice of which school we go to or which career we would like to do. We are given the choice to live beyond the limits of man and beyond to limits that our world places upon us. Christ is our absolute highest treasure and He forsook the comforts of Heaven to save us and in our time of remembrance, let us remember that our King fought for us. Let us remember the love He poured out and remember the love that the men and women displayed for us in fighting for our freedom to practice of our faith. In all this remembrance, we must not let both the battle of Christ and the battle of our veteran's go to waste; let's actually practice the freedom we've been given by their love and follow the example to live out the noble lives that we believe we're called to live.
2) These men and women displayed an example of love that is rare in our selfish generation. These men and women didn't simply fight in nobility, but they fought in an unrelenting desire to see the future lives of the world be made better. They fought for freedom because they found it to be a good thing, but what is greater about this, is that they laid down their lives for us to know freedom. By being citizens of our democratic nations, we live and abide in the love of our veterans. They fought to gift us freedom. There is no pay check that could have made up for their time in the trenches and the danger that they faced. The horrible hardships are something they freely accepted for our benefit and have they asked for anything in response? What do those "crosses, row on row" demand from you? They did not fight for your recognition, but for your freedom and that is love. They fought for you to be who you were created to be. "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)"
Is Christ the central focus of your life? Are you walking the Narrow Way? Is Truth the defining reality of your being? Is Life of the highest valued possession you have? These are all the attributes of Christ, but here is our greatest attribute: Love. Christ is love and there is no true love apart from Christ. Christ was perfectly selfless and went beyond just dying for friends, but He died for His enemies. So, in this time of remembrance, I would challenge followers of Christ to compare your lives to Christ's, then compare your lives to our veterans and judge, "How well do you love?" Christ says that even evil people give good gifts to their children. Do you give good gifts to your children? By the example of our veterans, they gave up their lives for their friends' freedoms, it is also possible for humans, although possibly without rebirth, to love their friends. Are you doing this? Is your life as noble as that? Do you freely give of your life to see those around blossom and bloom into the beauty of Christ, practicing and fanning into flame the freedom that is found in Him? Are you sheltered into your own life, living only by what you want and need, by the little comforts of this world?
We've been given a very clear and evident example in the person of Christ and in the fight that our veterans fought for us. In remembrance, would we not just sit back idly and marvel at their remarkable and noble feats, but would we follow in their footsteps and pursue a greater and higher calling unto Christ who is forever able and willing to give us all that we need to fulfill the noble calling He's called us to. A redeemed Christian doesn't forget that He is a child of God and a child of God must remember that He is still here for a purpose. We are ambassador children for the Kingdom Heaven and we must take the noble title seriously and take action to see the captives free and the weak and vulnerable cared for. We must remember that we are a noble breed.
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