Memorial Day
[Originally posted May 26, 2008.]
I would encourage anyone reading this post to pray for those families who are suffering today because they have experienced the loss of a husband, father, wife or daughter due to war. We should be thankful to God for the men and women whose sacrifice has allowed this nation to exist in such relative peace and prosperity- a generally peaceful nation where terrorist attacks are such rare tragedies and not daily occurrences, as they are in the Middle East; a nation so prosperous that even those of us who do not have much money are still able to enjoy a greater variety of foods than many queens and kings throughout history- coffee from Columbia, bananas from Brazil, spices from all over the world.
Due to the sacrifices of military heroes, tyrants such as Hitler have been vanquished and we are able to live in political freedom: a freedom to believe and seek to persuade others according to the dictates of our conscience. For those of us who believe the Bible, this is a freedom to proclaim the Good News of our ultimate Hero, Jesus Christ. Jesus died to vanquish the enemies of all humankind: God-dishonoring and self-destructive sinfulness, death, and Hell. Having defeated these enemies by His death, Jesus rose from the grave and ascended into Heaven, offering true freedom to all who believe in Him, that we might live holy lives in the joy of the Lord, that we would be raised from the dead, and that we might reign with Christ in Heaven. With this freedom comes true peace- peace with God so that we, who are naturally enemies of God, seeking our own selfish desires, would be reconciled to God- and peace with others so that we, who are naturally disposed to seeking comfort by segregating ourselves according to skin color, language, or economic status, would become one people in Christ. With this freedom comes prosperity both in terms of having every spiritual blessing and in being a part of Christ's kingdom that will one day be manifest on this earth with wealth so great that the streets will be paved with gold.
Dear reader, if you are in bondage to sin, if you are fearful of death, if, when you look into God's Word, you find that you are in danger of Hell, I plead with you to cry out to Jesus today for mercy.
For Christians reading this post, I pray that you will use the opportunity God has given us of living in a free nation- an opportunity that has come about through the death of men and women in the military, fighting for our freedom- to publicly proclaim the Good News of Jesus in some way.
I would encourage anyone reading this post to pray for those families who are suffering today because they have experienced the loss of a husband, father, wife or daughter due to war. We should be thankful to God for the men and women whose sacrifice has allowed this nation to exist in such relative peace and prosperity- a generally peaceful nation where terrorist attacks are such rare tragedies and not daily occurrences, as they are in the Middle East; a nation so prosperous that even those of us who do not have much money are still able to enjoy a greater variety of foods than many queens and kings throughout history- coffee from Columbia, bananas from Brazil, spices from all over the world.
Due to the sacrifices of military heroes, tyrants such as Hitler have been vanquished and we are able to live in political freedom: a freedom to believe and seek to persuade others according to the dictates of our conscience. For those of us who believe the Bible, this is a freedom to proclaim the Good News of our ultimate Hero, Jesus Christ. Jesus died to vanquish the enemies of all humankind: God-dishonoring and self-destructive sinfulness, death, and Hell. Having defeated these enemies by His death, Jesus rose from the grave and ascended into Heaven, offering true freedom to all who believe in Him, that we might live holy lives in the joy of the Lord, that we would be raised from the dead, and that we might reign with Christ in Heaven. With this freedom comes true peace- peace with God so that we, who are naturally enemies of God, seeking our own selfish desires, would be reconciled to God- and peace with others so that we, who are naturally disposed to seeking comfort by segregating ourselves according to skin color, language, or economic status, would become one people in Christ. With this freedom comes prosperity both in terms of having every spiritual blessing and in being a part of Christ's kingdom that will one day be manifest on this earth with wealth so great that the streets will be paved with gold.
Dear reader, if you are in bondage to sin, if you are fearful of death, if, when you look into God's Word, you find that you are in danger of Hell, I plead with you to cry out to Jesus today for mercy.
For Christians reading this post, I pray that you will use the opportunity God has given us of living in a free nation- an opportunity that has come about through the death of men and women in the military, fighting for our freedom- to publicly proclaim the Good News of Jesus in some way.
Labels: Christian worldview
posted by Andrew Lindsey | 4:59 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home