A Day to Remember

My words to you today are words of charge, a call to remember but not to passive, mournful remembrance. These are words filled with life; the kind of life that comes from true memorial; life gained from those who willingly gave their own. Memorial Day is one of many genuine American holidays that we ought to recognize, in that true patriotic sense. It is also one of the many American holidays that how to celebrate it needs serious revision. Some have turned Memorial Day into just another reason to practice the national pastime — shopping. For some, it means the official beginning of beach, bar, and bathing suits. Of course, there are those bitter and ungrateful souls who care not for the Constitution, the flag, or the men and women who fought and died to preserve them. Another more honorable company is those who “celebrate Memorial Day” with passive sadness because they truly remember the precious family members and friends who died in the course of serving their countrymen. But, if you and I merely mourn and remember with sentimentality those who sacrificed their lives for us, then we have learned very little from them and have possibly missed the very reason for their deaths.  

From 1776 to the present, men and women have given their lives when called upon to establish and preserve the God-given liberties our Constitution officially recognized. They trained so you could work. They toiled so that you could play. They went away so that you could remain home. They were lonely while you enjoyed family, friends, and neighbors. They waged war so that you might have peace. They often were captured, tortured, and killed so that they could be healthy and happy. They worshipped God in the trench so that you could worship Him from the pew. Many have died so that you may be free. The founding of America has proven that freedom is expensive. We dare not waste it. We must happily stand in the spirit that emboldened our national heroes to give their all to achieve and preserve our nation’s loyalty to God, the Bible, and the Constitution (that protects our religious liberties). Stand; therefore, with family, friends, and neighbors as an impregnable wall holding out all those who would destroy or disrespect it.   

They did not die in vain. Let’s not live in vain. The sincerest thank you that a citizen can offer those who died for their liberty, is to live out said liberty before God and man. They prayed to God and gave everything so that we can do the same. Americans, shake free from the prevailing lies about what it means to be free. Many enjoy this Constitutional liberty but do not value it; talk about it but do not understand it; want it but do nothing to preserve it. This Memorial Day give some time to reflect on the price that has been paid. As you meditate, do not passively mourn; they didn’t. Renew your vigor and valor for the cause of God and the Constitution which preserves our freedom to serve Him and one another in this fair land we call home. 

Love you all in Christ, 

Pastor Scott