A Note from Michael Gossett
“Honor”
The Bible is very clear about how we are called to give honor where honor is due. The word “honor” is a fairly simple word with which we are all familiar. Giving honor is showing respect or holding one in high esteem. Memorial Day is a time that we set aside to show honor, respect, and high esteem to those who gave their lives defending our country. Jesus said in John 15:13, “ No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus recognized the highest cost as one of the most honorable ways to show your love for others. This is why we pause every year and give thanks, remember, and honor those fallen Armed Service men and women who have paid the highest cost to secure our national freedom here in the United States.
How can we honor those this Memorial Day? We honor best by not squandering away our freedom. There are many people today who have forgotten the price of freedom and forgotten the fact that freedom is not guaranteed in this world. The United States of America is an anomaly in this world. There has been no other nation that would function within the freedoms that we experience today. Around the world, people face harsh economic conditions, harsh dictators, and harsh food supplies. Millions of people have no freedom to live out their religious preference and are not allowed to worship in peace. Many Christians are not even allowed to gather with other believers because of the lack of religious freedom where they live.
Those of us who live here in America enjoy this precious freedom. Yes, there are times when we face difficult economic conditions, health scares, and other challenges. Comparatively, however, here in the U.S., we live in better conditions than most of the world. Even in a volatile political climate, the United States is more prosperous and has a greater margin to flourish than any other country in the world. The question is not whether or not you are free; the question is, what do you and I do with our freedom?
Jesus addressed our freedom in John 15. John 15:13 is sandwiched between what you and I are called to do as we live in freedom. In John 15:9 Jesus said, “Remain in my love.” Then in John 15:10, He said “If you keep my commands you will remain in my love.” He continued, “I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:11-12) Then in verse 17, Jesus said, “This is what I command you: Love one another.” This is what Jesus expects from us as we live out our freedom – that we should love one another. We are called to outshow honor, outshow love, outshow kindness, and be gracious to one another. We may never have the opportunity to lay our lives down for our friends as those who fought and died for our freedom. But we certainly have the opportunity to daily lay down our lives for the sake of others by showing them love.
This Memorial Day, let us all show honor to the fallen soldiers by using our freedom on earth to point people to the ultimate freedom they can have in Christ. Jesus demonstrated the ultimate sacrifice on the cross. Through the death of many brave men and women, we have freedom here on earth, but through the death of One perfect Savior, we can have freedom for eternity. What are we going to do with this freedom? Let us live each and every day to show the love of Christ to those around us.
This week, we are studying “A Greater Response” in Hebrews 10:26-39 which says, “For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who disregarded the law of Moses died without mercy, based on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know the one who has said, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, and again, The Lord will judge his people. 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 32 Remember the earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to taunts and afflictions, and at other times you were companions of those who were treated that way. 34 For you sympathized with the prisoners[j] and accepted with joy the confiscation of your possessions, because you know that you yourselves have a better and enduring possession. 35 So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised. 37 For yet in a very little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. 38 But my righteous one will live by faith; and if he draws back, I have no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.”
I cannot wait to worship with you this Sunday!
You are loved and prayed for!
Michael Gossett