Happy Veterans Day! I am so thankful for the men and women who sacrificed for my freedom! God bless you all. I know it is hard on military families to have their mom/dad, wife/husband, son/daughter in the military and miss holidays, special events, birthdays, and other celebrations but what a wonderful gift you have shared with me and my family and countless others across this great land!
I have a lot of relatives who are/were veterans, including my father-in-law Roy. We are so thankful for the gift of service they have shared. I am so blessed to be free and I do not take it lightly. I realize freedom is never free and many paid the cost with their very lives.
JOHN 15:13 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
There were many men and women who literally gave their life for their country. The folded flags and marked graves tell the story without words. As those they left behind tried to put one foot in front of another, numbly navigating this life without their loved one, their hero was gone but not forgotten. Jesus said there is no greater love than for someone to lay their life down for their friends. He should know because He did the same thing. He laid down His life for His friends and His enemies. He took the thorns and the nails for the very people who placed Him on that cross. I want to remind you of His last words as He died for the salvation of the entire world.
LUKE 23:28 But Jesus turning unto them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children."
LUKE 23:34 Then said Jesus, "Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do." And they parted His raiment, and cast lots.
LUKE 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, "Verily I say unto thee, to day shalt thou be with Me in paradise."
Jesus knew what was going to happen after He died. He comforted the daughters of Jerusalem and told them to cry for themselves and their children because of the wickedness all around them. He asked forgiveness for the very ones who were crucifying Him! He had mercy on the cross as a criminal cried out for salvation.
With the final breath in His body He was comforting, forgiving, and saving. He was loving to the very end of His life. I don't know about you but if I was tortured and beaten and crucified, forgiveness of those who were wounding me would not be the first thoughts in my mind. Yet, Jesus, the Son of God, could have called down the host of angel armies in heaven who were no doubt on the verge of heaven looking down in grief and pain at what we had done to the Master! They were ready and waiting for Him to call them to bring Him relief and take Him Home but Jesus never summoned them. They would have obeyed in an instant and spared Him of the heartache and the grief He experienced in the garden the night before. Jesus did not take the easy way out. No, He paid the extremely high price for a world that did not love Him first, and some did not love Him at all. Could you do that?
We might be willing to die for someone we love but none of us has enough love, compassion, grace, and mercy to be tortured and killed for someone who hates us. It's okay though, because we do not have the power Jesus has to forgive. Our death would not mean much. We could not redeem fallen humanity with our life. Jesus did that.
So on this Veterans Day as we remember and honor the brave men and women who laid it all on the line, and those who continue to do so, let's not neglect to thank God for the sacrifice of His Son Jesus who died for our sins.
God bless you and God bless America and America bless God!
~Bridgett Owens
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