Today is Veterans Day. As one who has never served in the armed forces but values those who give of their lives for the freedom that I enjoy, please let me give you a whole-hearted thank you!
Every Veteran Has Given OF Their Lives; Some Have Given Their Lives
When you tell a veteran that they have given of their lives, and this presumes that they are living, they immediately think that they have not. They think of services members who have given of their lives as those who have died while serving. While those people have given all of their lives, every veteran has given something. Time away from family, time in country, time when they could have been building a business or career, whatever it may be.
All of the veterans that have given of themselves, whether in whole or in part, deserve our thanks.
Freedom Isn’t Free
Those who have served know that freedom isn’t free. Those who haven’t served, like me, get to enjoy the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and countless other freedoms that we have in this country…for free.
We have probably all heard someone say that freedom is inherently free. They often say something like…”Why is it called freedom if it isn’t free?” The answer is that freedom is free to those who merely enjoy it, but to those who pay for it, freedom isn’t free.
Grace: Free to Us but Not to Jesus
God’s grace, by which I mean the forgiveness of sin and the gift of every spiritual blessing that God has supplied, is absolutely free. It requires no payment on our part. All one has to do to receive God’s grace is believe in Jesus payment for our sins and turn away from the sin that we tend to cling to.
In Romans 8 Paul tells us that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. He continues on to say that we are either slaves to sin or that we have been set free from the law of sin and are now slaves to righteousness. But there is no way to buy God’s grace. No way to buy freedom from sin. It can only be received freely.
Why must grace only be received freely? Because Jesus payed for it when you and I could not. God is holy—totally set apart from sin. He can tolerate no injustice, no wrongdoing, no exploitation of people. I would hope that we would all be grateful for a God like that. The problem is that we have all sinned, and the punishment for that sin is death. But thanks be to God that He sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us so that we could live glorify him and enjoy him forever.
Grace is free to you and me because Jesus was willing to give His life to purchase it.
Freedom in America is free to you and me because men and women have been willing to give of their lives to earn it and then to keep it. Some gave all, all gave some.
I am eternally grateful to Jesus for the sacrifice of his own life to give us life eternally and without cost.
I am grateful to those who have given of their lives for freedom here on earth as well.
Happy Veterans Day, and welcome home!