Memorial Day 2020

This year we recognize the sacrifice our front-line medical and other essential workers have made. By stepping into situations that could compromise their health, or result in death, these heroes join the ranks of police, fire-fighters, military, and all the others who willing put themselves in harm's way for us. John 15:13. How can you best honor our living heroes, before they paid the ultimate price? 

He knows you, do you know HIM?

Most people who believe in God, believe that he already knows all about us. What might be surprised that God invites us to know Him too. In Psalm 86, David declares how good God is, based on David's personal experiences with and on the written history about God. Is it possible that your history is actually God revealing himself to you? Can you compare your story with the story of God's people in the Bible?

God knows your name

We consider it a great honor when someone we think highly of knows us by name. In Exodus 3, God calls Moses with a miraculous sign (a bush on fire but not burnt) - but maybe more significant than the miracle of the burning bush, was that God knew Moses by name. The gospel is that God knows you by name, He knows everything about you and He loves you.

The horrid houseguest

While we are in the middle of any kind of suffering, time may seem to stand still and we may become unable to see an end to the pain. The writer of Psalm 30 provides hope that our suffering is temporary. Like a bad house guest, the suffering may linger and cost us much. We should try to remember that there will be a time when the suffering is gone, leaving us to rejoice.

What about after deliverance?

10 lepers were healed by Jesus, but only one returned to give glory to God for the healing (Luke 17:11-19). All of us experience pain and suffering, but when we have been delivered from those times, do we stop to be thankful for that deliverance?

When Jesus is scary

Although our gospel accounts of Jesus describe him as meek and humble, John's revelation of Christ describe him as so powerful, he caused John to faint (Rev 1:12-18). We might wonder why Jesus appeared as such a frightening visage. John lived in a time of persecution and pain. Jesus appeared to John as the powerful savior that can save us all from our most horrible enemies.

What Christ left behind

One of the first hints that Jesus Christ was no longer dead, was what he had left behind. John 20 details how the grave clothes were found without the body of Christ. We will leave many things behind when we finally see Jesus, but we don't have to wait until that time to shed some of the trappings of death, like pride or selfishness. What unchristian habits or practices can you give up?