27 May Remembering the Ultimate Sacrifice
THE BEST THING WE CAN DO TO HONOR “SACRIFICE” IS TO REMEMBER!
(This blog post is coming to you a day early this week, and replaces tomorrow’s normal post. It was an especially popular post that first appeared on Memorial Day 2018.)
Christians everywhere should always be grateful for the ultimate sacrifice Christ made to secure our spiritual freedom and eternal life. As He said, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
In His words and actions, He taught us to recognize the ultimate sacrifice our fellow human beings make for the sake of others.
This is Memorial Day in the United States. Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day because it was a day set aside to decorate the graves of those who died in the Civil War and to remember their sacrifice in solemn ceremonies. It has since been expanded to remember all those who have died in service to our country and to protect freedom all over the world.
A number of years ago, President Reagan wrote:
“It is, in a way, an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country, in defense of us, in wars far away. The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray-haired. But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives, the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for our country, for us. And all we can do is remember.”
Jocko Willink, a retired Navy SEAL, who is now a best-selling author of the book Extreme Ownership, expanded on this idea recently in a touching op-ed piece.* He urged Americans to remember that fallen soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines were warriors who endured gnawing hunger, searing thirst, merciless heat, bitter cold, and crushing fatigue… who fought in lonely and forsaken places around the globe to confront our enemies… and that while they may have used night vision goggles, global positioning systems, drones, lasers and thermal optics… it was still a person, a human being, who did the work.
He reminded us that the fallen warriors were sons, brothers, fathers… daughters, sisters, mothers… who had hopes and dreams for a future that they gave up so that we could have our hope for a future. He urged us all that when we enjoy the gifts of family, friends and freedom, to never forget where they came from. And to not waste our lives. But rather to live lives that honor the sacrifice of our fallen heroes.
On this Memorial Day, let us do as President Reagan encouraged, let us remember our fallen warriors. And let us live lives that are worthy of the freedom and opportunity they have made possible.
*You can read the full Jocko Willink op-ed here.
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