Another of the traditions of Memorial Day has usually been to honor and remember all who served their country.  We repeat the same thing on Independence Day as well, and last year it had me thinking.  It is a great tradition, but at the risk of sounding critical, it is not what Memorial Day was really meant for.

Memorial Day is a day to remember, not who served their country, but those who served and died in service to their country.  It is not wrong to honor all servicemen, for all servicemen make great sacrifices in serving their country.  All servicemen spend time away from family, and many will find themselves in harm’s way.  I truly do appreciate their service and sacrifice.

However, there are those who have fallen in the line of duty; those who have no voice, no presence, no life left to live.  All their tomorrow’s are gone, and all that is left is their memory.  That is what Memorial Day is about.

While it may be a point of contention that by remembering all servicemen we remember those who have fallen, and I’m not going to argue that point.  I’ve already said it is a good tradition, yet let us not forget the real reason this day exists at all.  Somewhere, someone you may never know, through a revolution and many wars past, died on a battlefield in service to this country.  They were family to someone, and they had a life that ended all too soon.

If you really want to get an idea of what Memorial Day is all about, just visit sites like these, and you’ll really get the picture:

http://www.rememberthefallen.com/

http://militarytimes.com/valor/

And this great article on “How to Best Remember the Fallen”:  http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/05/28/best-remember-fallen-memorial-day/

To forget is a human failing.  Good thing God never forgets.  In fact, “forgive and forget” is not really a Bible principle at all, for God tells us in the Bible that He will remember our sins no more.  Heb 10:17 “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”

To me, that says God just wipes them away and will never bring them up again.  Not that He “forgets” them in a human sense, but that on purpose, He chooses to never consider them, look at them, bring them up, or make note of them.  Maybe that is splitting hairs a little too fine, but consider also the following verses:

Jg 8:34 And the children of Israel remembered not the LORD their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side:

Ps 78:42 They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

Did they really forget, or did they just choose to not consider God’s commands and what God had done for them?  I propose the latter.  In light of this I stand convicted every time I sin.  Do we really not know the difference between right and wrong?  Do we ever really forget a commandment of God NOT to do a thing when we go ahead and do it anyway?  I have not the excuse “I forgot”, but rather that I chose to “remember not.”

Ever notice that the Bible also makes some very emphatic and exclusive statements and conclusions about pride?  “Only by pride cometh contention: . . . ” Proverbs 13:10 and “Pride goeth before destruction, . . .” Proverbs 16:18

If God takes the issue of pride so seriously, why don’t I?  The only answer I could come up with: my pride.

As I began to delve into my own research to be able to teach on this topic in Men’s Bible study, a flood of conviction began to overwhelm me.  “Only by pride” do I argue, “Only by pride” do I get offended when someone is critical, “Only by pride” do I criticize others, “Only by pride” do I find fault in others, “Only by pride” do I become dissatisfied with my situation, “Only by pride” do I find myself too busy to read my Bible or pray, and on and on.  I began to see how pride has infiltrated every aspect of my life, every moment of my day, every encounter with another person, every thought that enters my mind, every action or word will be influenced by my pride.  I saw myself unable to function in life without my pride, and I stood totally convicted and judged in my own eyes.  How would God see me?  I shuddered, because I also knew “Pride goeth before destruction.” Proverbs 16:18

Most people inaccurately quote this as pride comes before a fall, but it is a misquote of the words in the entire verse.  God says, quite emphatically, that He hates pride, and we either must lose our pride or face destruction.  I also found destruction comes in so many forms.  Others are killed every day by someone else’s pride.  For example: texting while driving – pride tells us we can do it.  Speeding – we are safer drivers than others aren’t we?  I could write a whole article on just the consequences of pride, but you get the idea.  Relationships are destroyed – by pride.  Churches die and are destroyed – by pride.  Families are torn apart – by pride.  How different would our world be without pride?  Picture that, and maybe you can get a sense of why God hates it so much.

If “Only by pride cometh contention” then the reverse must also be true, so I came up with the corollary that “Only by humility cometh contentment.”  Think of all the things that bother you, then think of how Christ faced them by taking off His God robe long enough to die for you and me.  At the very moment of our own salvation, humility, not pride, ruled our minds and hearts.  On bended knee, vulnerable, we cried out for Him to save us, and He did.

I believe now that no one dies and goes to hell for their sins – for Christ paid for ALL OUR  SINS.  I now believe that a person dies and goes to hell for their PRIDE.  Someone who refuses salvation is someone who has refused to humble them self and acknowledge an Almighty God and His Son Jesus Christ, or maybe they have an issue with recognizing their own sinfulness.  In any case, it is always pride that stands between them and salvation – everything else to effect their salvation is already prepared for them.  Pride tells us we must earn salvation, while humility accepts there is nothing we can do to save ourselves.  God will only judge us for our sin if we hang onto our pride, and I am in the middle of my P-R-I-D-E.  Need a reference for that?

How about the story of Jonah?  The city of Nineveh was condemned for their sins, Jonah goes and warns them then sits on a hill to wait for their impending destruction.  The people humble themselves from the king to the last citizen, and God spares them.  Check it out for yourself how multiple times God backs off His judgment from a person a city or a nation because the person, people, or nation humbled themselves.

The kicker: 2Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

I posted a link to this on my Facebook page, and a good friend of mine with whom I often disagree pointed out a specific passage: “Don’t listen when people say that following Christ means being right. To follow the crucified and resurrected one is to live as a people who get to be wrong.”

My friend responded, “I always have qualms when someone claims with certainty that Christianity is not knowing what is right. I mean, if she is absolutely certain about re-birth in baptism, then isn’t she right?”

His comments bring up a really interesting quandary about right and wrong in Christianity. Surely there’s value in recognizing our potential to be wrong in nearly everything; it keeps us humble and helps us to give God the respect He deserves, He whose thoughts are not our thoughts and whose ways are not our ways. However, isn’t there some necessity to be right in some things? We must be certain of the power of the resurrection and the holiness of God, right? But at some point doesn’t too much certainty lead to Phariseeism?

Where do we draw the line between where we must be right and where we might be wrong?

Two years ago, a speaker at a ladies’ retreat I attended talked about this propensity we have to lay the blame for our own behavior on others. She said that since we can’t control what other people do or say or think, our only concern in all things should be that we do our part. Fundamentally, her lesson was pretty much the same as “turn the other cheek,” but for some reason, the way she put it really resonated with me, and it helped me better apply that principle to the situations in which I often find myself.

For instance, if someone at my job makes a bad decision that ends up costing me a lot of extra time and effort that could have been avoided, that doesn’t make it OK for me to fume over it or to be wrathful toward that person. My job is to do my part, and my part only—which is to do my work “heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.” God won’t hold me accountable for my colleague’s actions, but neither will he weigh those actions heavily when judging the rightness or wrongness of my behavior.

If I hear that someone at church disagrees with my idea of appropriate church dress, that doesn’t make it OK for me to take pains to wear what they don’t like just to make a point. C.S. Lewis would call that uncharitable behavior, and I believe Christ would, too. My job is to do my part, which is to give fair consideration to that person’s objections and then to shut up and love them as God commands, regardless of whether we agree.

Say a prayer for me that in all things I can concentrate on doing my part, and nothing more.

My two-year-old daughter is sleeping peacefully upstairs after two days of fever that peaked at 104.4 degrees. My mother-in-law, who is one of the kindest people I know, spent yesterday morning taking care of her for me. My mom and dad, who moved here last year just to be near us, came over this morning to help out. My sister-in-law, another of the kindest people I know, was thoughtful enough to call on her way home from work to check and see how the midget was doing. My husband, who is slugging through one of his busiest work months of the year, made a special trip home yesterday just to have dinner with his little girl.

So I don’t feel like being anything but grateful today. I wish it didn’t take so many little salvations to make me feel that way. In the past few days people I love have saved me from frustration, and worry, and hassle, and I feel abundantly grateful for that. So you’d think that, faced with the one big salvation I’ve been given, I’d wake up every morning ready to tell those rocks not to bother crying out, because I’ve got it covered. Why is it often so much harder to praise the name of the Lord for His sacrifice than to praise our earthly, day-to-day saviors?

I can’t imagine the fear and uncertainty I would have if this trust wasn’t there. Living in a house where your not sure what sin, act of forgetfulness, or wrong word in an argument would be your last. My wife is amazingly blessed with her ability to forgive me in my many shortcomings. Thank you Lord for my beauty, my lover, my confidant my bride.

I don’t see it as a job of the state to deny someone who is living as a couple the rights of a couple just because they are the same sex. Feel free to say something contrary. I welcome ideas contrary to my own.

This past week I’ve been putting myself under a lot of unnecessary stress. It’s like littlest problems become huge monsters ready to eat me alive. Anxiety disorder will do that to you. But I’m sick of it all. I’m tired of struggling with my demons. I’m tired of living in a world full of trouble and turmoil. I’m tired of all this fear and loathing. I’m tired and I want to go to bed.

It’s times like these when I think about Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest.” What does this rest look and feel like? Sometimes I naively think it means God will take away all trials and pressures out of my life, but that’s not the case. In John 16:33, Jesus says, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

I have overcome the world.

For some reason I’m always forgetting this. For thirty-three years Jesus lived among mankind. He knows all about the trials, temptations, and troubles of life–even public execution and humiliation on the cross! He did all that to take the burden off of our shoulders. “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30)

I once saw a church sign that said, “God doesn’t promise an easy ride, but a safe landing.” So that’s what I think this rest Jesus is referring to is: the peace of knowing that in the end, everything is going to be okay.

To see my possessions not as my own and not something I earn, but instead as a gift from God to further his glory and kingdom even when it isn’t convenient for me or what I want to spend my resources on is sobering. I also liked the way Mark Driscoll approached the idea of money “God doesn’t give you more money so you can make yourself more comfortable”. Thanks Q and Mark.