Honor the Soldier
Honor the Soldier
January 19,2023
Our Society honors those who shed their blood in battles to save our Nation. We especially honor those who bravely save their fellow soldiers in these wars to save our nation and to keep it safe. These honors are more than well deserved. There are also auxiliary medals given to those who participate in battle and other service as part of the same mission. All of these awards and recognitions are extremely well-deserved.
The Bible acknowledges how amazing their feats of courage are in Romans 5:7, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.” Yet, those brave troops carry on regardless. And yet, not many have we met. Not many have we known personally.
The wars that are the context for these heroics are between the peoples and nations of Mankind. Whether justified or not, this problem cannot be laid at the feet of those doing the fighting. They have been convinced for the necessity and righteousness of the wars and battles.
Those wars are evident and undisguised conflicts and publicized widely.
Now, there are other battles going on that are imperceptible and invisible to the natural eye. It is off the spectrum and scope of our natural eyes. Nevertheless, it is all around us.
It is a spiritual warfare between right and wrong, between faith and cynicism, between light and darkness, between truth and all the lies, between one amazing reality and the ever increasing surplus of fantastic illusions.
The whole passage of Romans 5:6–8 is “For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ Jesus died for us.”
We honor the bravery of our service men and women. Why don’t we honor Jesus who gave the ultimate sacrifice? I see the answer in this Bible passage, “For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” 1 John 4:20. Simply, we cannot see Jesus with our natural eyes. His sacrifice is easy to overlook.
Yet, the apostle Paul suggests this,”Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame…” What eyes are we supposed to be fixating and on whom? What in the world is Paul talking about? I think we all know.
And, what is Jesus joy? Find it in the Parable of the lost sheep, Luke 15, “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
Like a good parent, Jesus joy is in the success of His children! Won’t you at least take a look out of your window? Maybe you will want to honor Him by asking Him into your home. After all, He did die for you.
