Grace, Truth, and Love

On Memorial Day we honor those who bravely gave their lives for what they deemed to be of greater value: liberty. Without the sacrifice of many of these soldiers, we would not enjoy the rights they fought for, including the privilege of writing this blog. So, we’re thankful – I’m thankful – for their sacrifice.

Long before our country was founded, many others gave their lives. Those who loved God more than life itself “through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” (Hebrews 11:33–38, ESV).¹

Why?

Because “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). The Biblical patriarchs and prophets were so sure of the coming fulfillment of God’s promises, so deeply convicted of the part they each had to play in the fulfillment of those promises that it was worth the suffering they endured to secure them for a future generation.

Another man paid the ultimate price to fulfill those promises: One who read from the book of Isaiah one Sabbath in Nazareth (Lk. 4:18-19) and proclaimed to those present that on that day, those very promises were being fulfilled:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, (Isaiah 61:1–2)…

He stopped reading at a comma, because what is mentioned next in the prophecy, He was not planning to fulfill at His first coming:

and the day of vengeance of our God (Isaiah 61:2).

It is Jesus who was sent “to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound…” He is the only one who can do that. If you leave Him out of your life you won’t be able to experience true liberty. If He is the center of your fast, the liberty that only He can provide will be available to you.

Remember: God’s purpose for fasting is liberty from bondage.

Praise God for His Son Jesus, who paid the ultimate price so that I could be truly free!

So, now what? After reminding us in Chapter 11 of those who paid a great price for holding onto the truth of God’s promises, the author of the book of Hebrews exhorts us in Chapter 12, verses 1 and 2:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1–2).

I would like to express my condolences to those who have lost someone they care about, no matter why they might have died. I’m particularly thankful for those who gave their lives for freedoms that I now enjoy. I appreciate those who continue to serve, as well as those who served and passed for reasons other than service to their country.

My dad Steve never actively served in the military; he was a helicopter navigator in the Florida National Guard. He didn’t die trying to save somebody else’s life, but he did risk his life to save a guy who was in harm’s way, for which he earned a Congressional Medal of Honor. I’m grateful for the opportunity to remember him this way.

I hope you’ve had a blessed Memorial Day and that you’ve taken time to remember the One who died so that we might live, who rose from the dead to declare God’s power over death, who is currently seated in heaven at the right hand of God, and who will return to fulfill the rest of the promises about Him. Let’s keep looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, as we run our own race, by God’s grace.

1. All Scriptures are taken from the The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Crossway Bibles, 2001).