Galatians 5:13 reads: “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. The freedom to which we are called includes the freedom to worship God unhindered by those who reject him. We live in a society that increasingly rejects God in favor of secular humanism. Consequently, we should never take our freedom of religion for granted. Religious freedom is spelled out in the First Amendment to our Constitution but, in reality, it comes from God not government.
One way to avoid taking our religious freedom for granted is to honor our military veterans on November 11th each year. November 11th is Veterans’ Day, a national holiday and a day we should set aside our normal activities and honor the men and women who have served our country in uniform from 1776 to the present. God granted us our freedom of religion, but our military veterans fought to preserve that freedom and the other God-given freedoms we enjoy. Many military members died or were wounded preserving our freedoms.
Veterans’ Day grew out of the armistice between the allied nations and Germany to cease hostilities during World War I. The armistice went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. In November, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11th to be Armistice Day. In May, 1938, Congress made November 11th a national holiday. In the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War, Congress (in 1954) amended the Act of 1938 renaming the holiday Veterans’ Day, a day to honor all American veterans.
On this Veterans’ Day, I encourage Christians to say a prayer of thanks for the service of our military veterans and their families. If you are a veteran, I thank you for your service, applaud your commitment to duty, honor, and country, and commend you for sacrificing to preserve the God-given freedom and liberty that are the cornerstone values distinguishing our country from all others. If you are the mother, father, spouse, sibling or relative of an American service member killed or wounded in combat, I grieve with you, pray for your comfort, and salute you on behalf of all Americans for your family’s sacrifice.
My prayer is that God will preserve and protect all the men and women who serve in uniform and bless those who have already served. Americans are able to breathe the fresh air of freedom because of the willingness of young men and women to serve. Thank God our country still has courageous young heroes who, when duty calls, step forward and say, “send me.”
John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Since 1776, more than 1.3 million military members exemplified that “greater love” by laying down their lives for their friends. On this Veterans’ Day and throughout the week, I ask you to join me in thanking our military veterans and their families and praying God will preserve and protect those currently serving.
Dr. Goetsch is the author of Christian Women on the Job: Excelling at Work without Compromising Your Faith, Fidelis Books, an imprint of Post Hill Press and Christians on the Job: Winning at Work Without Compromising Your Faith, Salem Books, an imprint of Regnery Publishing, 2019: www.david-goetsch.com
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