Tag: sacrifice

In our nation, as in many others statues are erected to great men and women in memorial of their great contribution to their nation and in many cases to the world. Most often memorials are erected AFTER the person or event being memorialized has come and gone.  Around our nation and world there are a number of memorials set in place to remember what – war? Do the monuments to our WW I veterans at Pershing Park in DC, the WW II memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the national mall also in DC or the various Vietnam Memorials in our nation CELEBRATE war?!

NO!!!

They memorialize men and women who rose above fear and personal concern for safety during those conflicts to stand for something greater – their nation, their countrymen and the freedom we ALL hold dear. Those memorials do not celebrate blood shed but rather sacrifice for the greater good and they serve as a reminder of the COST of freedom.

in 1970 Crosby, Stills Nash and Young recorded a song in the wake of the Kent State Shootings called “Find the Cost of Freedom.” It included the countercultural anthem titled “Ohio” written by Neil Young which was meant to protest America’s ongoing presence in Vietnam (specifically the Cambodian campaign); it contains a lyric that verbally encapsulates the PRICE of freedom and simply states:

“Find the cost of freedom buried in the ground.”

Sometimes, standing for something will cost you everything – this IS the cost of freedom.

So, let me ask you, does the way we as individual citizens of America use our freedoms sometimes degrade the cost paid to obtain it?

I know that the remainder of this post may offend some of my Libertarian friends but do we have a responsibility as citizens to use that for which such a priceless value has been paid wisely and carefully?

This is, of course a page given to Christian commentary and as such this would be a good place to insert a verse from the Bible to consider in light of my assertion. Consider what Paul wrote in (1 Corinthians 10:23-24):

“All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.”

As a Roman citizen, Paul had freedoms like we do in America – the Apostle was free to do what ever he wanted as a citizen of Rome. But as a free citizen of heaven, made so by the precious blood and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, other considerations had to be observed, namely the effect his choices would have upon those he was trying to reach for Jesus Christ. In essence, Paul said, “I am free to do anything, but not everything that I’m free to do ought to be done.” And so, there is a tension for the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ between what we’re free to do and what will be beneficial to others and honoring to God.

When we willfully disregard the direct revelation of God in His word and sin, our actions devalue the price paid to obtain our freedom and standing before Almighty God and we are seen as treating the blood of Jesus, the blood which paid our sin debt to God in full (Colossians 2:14) as “a common thing” (Hebrews 10:29). Furthermore, our actions work against the efforts of God’s Spirit in the lives of our children and weaker brethren in the faith.

As Christians, sometimes our actions do work to degrade the cost paid to make us free but again let me ask you, does the way we use our freedoms as individual American citizens sometimes degrade the price paid to make us free?

“How?” You might ask.

For one, the students at Kent in 1970 were free to protest but not threaten or violently attack local business owners and residents who did not join in their protest. For another, when people born in America willfully burn or trample the flag representative of the freedoms which we enjoy and under which countless men and women gave their lives – the cost of freedom is degraded. And then there is this recent news story about the Vietnam Memorial on the campus of the University of Massachusetts at Boston where it has been reported that the monument has been defaced by graffiti including swastikas and the destruction of numerous American flags: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/vietnam-war-veterans-monument-defaced-ahead-memorial-day-63253992.  These are a few in a growing list of the ways that some citizens of this great country have degraded the sacrifices made and the cost which was paid for our mutual freedoms.

As I wrap it up, I was just thinking about the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. The Tomb of the Unknowns as it has officially been known since 1921 stands as a memorial to those men and women of the armed forces who died in combat but whose remains cannot be identified.

I was just thinking about how the name “Unknowns” fits these men and women who paid the ultimate price for their country and their countrymen – most hero’s that I’ve ever heard of didn’t do what they did for recognition….they would tell you that they simply did what needed to be done.

I was thinking of the vast sea of grave markers which surround the Tomb of the Unknowns, each of them with a name and a symbol of their personal faith or life. Their names are common everyday names like Jack, Frank, Joe, Pete, Tim, Mike, Mary, Liz, Ralph etc. but they were not common men and women. Some of them were farmers and farmers sons, cowboys, business men, young men straight out of high school, wives, daughters…..some enlisted, many were drafted; all of them mattered to someone and ultimately because of what they did they ALL matter to the nation.

These uncommon men and women, like those who survived them through the many wars and conflicts exhibited uncommon valor, uncommon patriotism and uncommon bravery as they faced a common enemy. From every walk of life they came, united in purpose and willing up front to lay it all down.

My friends, it has been said that, “Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you; Jesus Christ and the American G. I. One died for your soul; the other for your freedom.” We have all benefited or stand to benefit from the uncommon blood of both those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom as Americans and the blood of the Son of God Jesus Christ – may each of us live lives which remember and respect their sacrifices.