This weekend we celebrate the unofficial beginning of summer, Memorial Day. Will we take time and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom? Will we stop and reflect that our life has been given to us because someone gave their life for us. Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Freedom Isn’t Free, by Kelly Strong, is a poem written to recall the memories of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the giving of their lives. Their willingness to give secures to this day our freedom. Freedom to do whatever we enjoy doing.

I watched the flag pass by one day

It fluttered in the breeze

A young Marine saluted it,

And then he stood at ease

I looked at him in uniform

So young, so tall, so proud

With hair cut square and eyes alert

He’d stand out in any crowd

I thought how many men like him

Had fallen through the years

How many died on foreign soil?

How many mothers’ tears?

How many Pilots’ planes shot down?

How many died at sea?

How many foxholes were soldiers’ graves?

No, Freedom isn’t free.

I heard the sound of taps one night,

When everything was still

I listened to the bugler play

And felt a sudden chill

I wondered just how many times

That taps had meant “Amen”

When a flag had draped a coffin

Of a brother or a friend

I thought of all the children,

Of the mothers and the wives,

Of fathers, sons and husbands

With interrupted lives

I thought about a graveyard

at the bottom of the sea

Of unmarked graves in Arlington.

No, Freedom isn’t free!

What would this country look like if we weren’t free? Would our lives even be the same? Stop and think of all the choices we can make in our life and then think of some of the other nations in the world who don’t have the same option. The difference is freedom.

The founders of our country decided to organize our country on the foundation of God’s moral standard and freedom to choose. We have fought for over 200 years to maintain that, not only for us but also for other nations and peoples of the world.

God gives us the freedom to personally choose. He makes available for us a life of abundance and freedom. He did that through the death and resurrection of Christ. We have the choice to accept that or refuse it.

Jesus said…

John 10:10; The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Paul adds in Galatians…

Galatians 5:1; It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (sin).

Jesus came and gave His life as a sacrifice so that we could know the abundant and free life that God has offered us. Not unlike those who have fought for our country’s freedom. For us to have the opportunity to be free it cost someone something.

For us to have freedom as a country many men and women paid with their lives. They made the ultimate sacrifice for the good of others. They gave their lives. Honor that.

In a similar way Christ sacrificed his life for us. Jesus gave His life so that we might have life. Accept that.

John 3:16-17; “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

The men and women of our Armed Forces gave their lives to secure our freedom as a nation. Jesus Christ gave His life for us to save us from death and destruction, eternal separation from God.

Let me ask a question, do we enjoy our freedom as an American? If we do take the time to say thank you to those who have made it possible. Let me ask another, do we want to experience an abundant and free life that only comes from knowing Jesus Christ as our Savior? He gave His life to give us that opportunity, we can accept it and free ourselves from the burden of sin.

Freedom isn’t free, the cost is great. Be thankful there are those who are willing to pay the price for our freedom. Honor their sacrifice.

Blessings,

Pastor Don