For the majority of my life, the military community has deeply shaped my perspective about freedom and sacrifice. My children were raised in a military family and surrounded by military communities. Now my son is active duty in the U.S. Army. Most of my friends are associated with one of the branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. For years, I took the sacrifices of our military for granted because it was so much a part of our life. We simply adapted. But as time went on and I began to see the toll of war on the lives of family and friends, I have become more acutely aware of the need to be more thankful to those who protect our freedom.
There is nothing “normal” about war.
For example, my son Jon and his fiancée, Autumn, both of whom are Apache pilots in the U.S. Army, stand guard on the wall between tyranny and freedom just 60 miles from the DMZ in South Korea, I will NEVER take their lives and sacrifices for granted. They work impossibly long hours. My son told me that on some weeks, he worked such long hours that his pay calculated to be less than $5.00 an hour. But, my friend…
They aren’t doing it for the money; they do it to protect our freedom.
Each person on active duty in any branch of the Armed Forces, is standing between our freedom and awful enemies who would love to annihilate us. Without the strength of our military, dictators like Kim Jong Un of North Korea, would make us all prisoners of their terror. While we should spend this day thanking our active-duty military personnel, I would encourage us to think about OUR responsibility to THEM!
We have a great responsibility to guard the homefront from the enemies within—those who seek to wreak havoc on our freedom and peace. What do I mean? Well, there is great evil at work within our country that is sowing discord, hate, terror, division, cruelty, and every imaginable expression of hell on earth.
But, we know LIGHT is greater than darkness.
One of my favorite quotes from Martin Luther King Jr is: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” My friend, if we want to fight the darkness here on the homefront, we need to BE the light. So ask yourself, what is your source of LIGHT and how well is it working for you? Is it giving you hope? Or do you live in fear of destruction or death? Does your life feed others with hope; or does it take all your energy just to get through the day? In my experience of living without God at the center of my life, I didn’t have much left over for anyone else at the end of each day. But…
Much like the sunlight seems to effortlessly promote growth and life on the earth; so also, when our life is centered in Jesus, we have overflowing hope to inspire those around us!
Jesus is the light of the world. (John 8:12) When He shines through us; we are a light of hope. When our life is more about Him, it also becomes more about others and He shines through us. The Bible encourages us to use our freedom for others:
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Galatians 5:13-14
Our military understands sacrifice. They have subjected their life to the control of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces in order to maintain our freedom from foreign enemies. It is OUR DUTY to maintain freedom on the HOMEFRONT. To do this, we must be willing to submit our lives to our Creator and the great Captain of our soul. Jesus died so that we could have eternal freedom! When He is at the center of our life, we live in the freedom of the greatest hope on earth—freedom from eternal death!
Jesus said that He had come that “we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) When we are born again, and living with Christ as our center, we are guardians of the greatest freedom on earth. Through the power of the resurrection of Christ, we can stand in the gap between good and evil. Evil cannot prevail to destroy our country if we are tirelessly working to fight the good fight. In Christ, we are more than conquerors.
Give someone who is active duty a big “Thank you” today. And…
…let’s thank them even better by personally committing to keep the homefront free by living in the power of love and service to our communities.
We would love to hear your thoughts about this devotional. Did God speak to you or challenge your daily walk with him? Or is there a topic that you would like Kimberly to cover or expound on? Please share with us in the comments below.
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2 Responses
God bless you and your family. May your son and fiance stay safe . We thank them for their service
Thank you.