Memorial Day, a day late

by Dan Phillips

I've been out of town, and my betters here at Teampyro are busy, so I offer you this brief thought.

As Memorial Day approached, I found myself focused on this simple truth: every bit of freedom we Americans enjoy was bought and paid for by the blood of men and women, and those willing to shed their blood.

That I can write these posts without being jailed for seditious ideas, or tortured and killed for reproaching the "Prophet" Mohamed; that my family can worship publicly in the church of our choice; that I can call some portion of my earnings mine; that I can vote in open elections — these and countless other freedoms are mine because of blood. You who preach the Word here, week in and week out, do so because of blood shed or risked.

Philosophers philosophized, theoreticians theorized, speakers spoke, writers wrote, and preachers preached. But until some people put their "Lives, [their] Fortunes and [their] sacred Honor" on the line to secure the actualization of those ideals, no actual liberty was secured. And it has only been preserved to the degree that we still have it because men and women have pledged their own lives to its defense.

So our family honored those sacrifices at a service in a cemetery yesterday.

But as a Christian, all this talk of freedom purchased by blood makes me think of Jesus and His sacrifice. Perhaps the similarities and contrasts could be developed further in a less hurried post, but I immediately think of these, and offer them to you:

• They died to secure and/or preserve temporal freedom; He, eternal freedom
• Some of them died with no immediate effect; by His death He actually "saved sinners"
• Some of their deaths may have been tragic mistakes due to flawed policy or tactics; He died according to the eternal, infinitely wise, just, and perfect plan of the Triune God
• When they died, they had no guarantee of success; He died "for the joy set before Him"
• Their lives were taken from them; He had the authority to lay down His life, and the authority to take it up again
• Their graves are marked by crosses, headstones, flags; He has no grave, having risen bodily and ascended to the right had of the Father
• Some use the liberty their deaths secured to sin more flagrantly; His death breaks sin's bonds forever

If you haven't, thank the vets you know for taking the risk that Memorial Day could have been about them, and tell them you thank God that it wasn't. (Thank you, vets!)

But also thank your Savior and the Captain of your salvation, for His perfect atonement for sin, for having given all He had to secure your freedom not just now, but forever.

---