What are we really worth?
Several years ago, Memorial Day found me at the Pearl Harbor memorial, a humbling reminder of the incredible price of our liberty. This holiday was instituted to remind Americans that our freedoms and our way of life have been purchased at a tremendous cost. We are “expensive people.” As time has passed, Memorial Day has become less a day of remembrance and more a signal – a signal that school is out, pools are open, it’s time to fire up the grill and go to the lake. None of those things is bad. In fact, those who purchased our freedoms died so that we could do those things. But to forget those who paid the price for our freedoms is not only unfortunate and ungrateful, it’s dangerous. While we may constitutionally declare that each person has the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” we must understand it took great sacrifice to win us these rights! We are “expensive people.” As Christians, we have Memorial Day each week as we remember Jesus’ death and resurrection until he comes. It is a weekly reminder that we are expensive people – people bought at a great price. But our memorial day is not just a time to look back and reflect on the cost to the one who redeemed us, but is also a time to look at what we are doing with our lives to honor him, and a time to anticipate what Jesus will do for us in the future. We are “expensive people.” We have been loved sacrificially by the Creator of the universe. We are precious to him. But let’s do more than cost a lot. Let’s be valuable people-not just precious to him, but valuable to him. Let’s be people who know they are precious to God and live with passionate commitment for his purposes. People who look forward to their ultimate victory while they live sacrificially in the present to God’s glory.
About the author: Phil Ware has authored 11 years of daily devotionals, including VerseoftheDay.com, read by 500,000 people a day. He works with churches in transition with Interim Ministry Partners and for the past 21+ years, he has been editor and president of HEARTLIGHT Magazine, author of VerseoftheDay.com, God’s Holy Fire (on the Holy Spirit), and aYearwithJesus.com. Phil has also authored four books, daily devotionals on each of the four gospels.