Memorial Day 2019
2 Timothy 2:3
“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
Every year at this time in our country we honor our fallen military personnel. Like most of the holidays the true meaning and the roots of the day have been forgotten by most and for the most part are no longer taught to our younger generations. Today, to most, there is more excitement given to a three day weekend off work and/or the first outing with family and friends for the summer than there is given to the true reason for this day.
Stores and car dealerships inundate us with sales and fill our mail boxes and email boxes with enough circulars to fill a trash bin. There will be BBQs and grilling(and yes there is a difference) and parties of all sorts. Many with drunkenness followed by domestic violence.
As a student of history, I am forever reading articles and quotes by others on the founding of our nation and on how our forefathers put in place certain ideas and certain days for the generations to follow to remember where we came from and why. And for all this I am honored that my Heavenly Father has put in me the desire and the “want to” to defend our godly heritage. Yes, beyond popular belief in our society today, our nation was founded on Godly principles and morals.
Whether the politically correct crowd today likes it or not, the holiday we observe today had it's beginnings in the South after the War of Northern Aggression. One year after the surrender of the Southern armies widows and daughters of men who had died defending their homeland came together to honor their fallen heroes. Soon after, the idea took hold all across the South. And at some point it was adopted in the North and eventually the rest of the nation as well. In the early days their were church services, parades, speeches by prominent veterans, and family gatherings to honor those who gave their all for what they thought was the right cause. Though many today will not admit it, the fact is that even Memorial Day, as originally celebrated, was in honor of those who thought they were fighting and dying for Godly principles.
As our nation began to grow even more and became involved in more conflicts around the world, Memorial Day became the time of year people honored those who fought in every war our nation was involved. For the first two hundred years or so after our nation was founded it was common practice for our leaders and prominent citizens to give God the glory for the men and women who served in our military. We can read quotes and letters written by men such as George Washington, Robert E. Lee, Thomas Jackson, Alvin York, Audie Murphy, Dwight Eisenhower, to name a few, who spoke and wrote of their deep convictions to Christ and while in the heat of battle would remember the ways of our Lord taught to them by Godly parents or grandparents when they were younger.
Today, however, we hear our leaders mention very little of our Godly heritage. Most act as those they are ashamed of the fact that our very founding was based on the Bible. Yet they have no problem reaping or stealing the bounty God has bestowed upon our nation. They have tried to remove God from every aspect of our lives. Which, in all reality is an impossibility since God is Sovereign over all of His creation. Man cannot remove God from anything, but as is the example in the Old Testament with Israel, God can bring a nation who claims to be His to it's knees by an enemy they never thought about and bring chastisement upon His people for their failing to follow His commandments. We claim to be “One Nation Under God” but sin runs deep in the lives of many of those who claim the name of Christ. No, America is not the Israel of old. But when a nation forgets it's Godly founding and turns to the ways of sin and God's people follow along and refuse to stand on the truths in which our forefathers fought and died God will not set idly by while His name is blasphemed by those claiming to be His.
Where will you spend this day of remembrance? What events will you and your family and friends participate? Will our Lord be spoken of there? Will those who died defending our Godly heritage be remembered?
John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Praise ye the Lord!!!
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