Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Monday was Veterans Day. Thank you veterans for your service to our country! Without that, we wouldn’t have the freedoms we enjoy. Many of our nation’s veterans have come home physically and/or emotionally/spiritually maimed by the horrors they’ve experienced. It’s well past time we started honoring and taking care of our veterans, and I’m proud of the recently initiated changes to that end.
Like Americans, Christians enjoy considerable freedoms in several areas. First, is freedom from guilt because our sins have been forgiven [Hebrews 10:19-25; 1 Peter 3:21 (NASB); Revelation 1:4-6].
Second, when our sins aren’t counted against us, we need not fear the penalty of death for sin all people face (Romans 3:23; 6:23; 8:31-37; Hebrews 2:14-15; Colossians 1:21-23). But we also are not to use our freedom as permission to continue sinning (Galatians 5:13; Romans 6:1-23; John 8:34-36). Certainly, if we harbor unforgiven sin, the guilt remains (Hebrews 2:13-13; Jeremiah 4:14; John 5:14). We’re to live in the light so we’ll be continually cleansed when we sin unawares and repent and seek forgiveness when we become aware of our sins, even asking God to reveal our hidden sin to us (1 John 1:5-9; Psalm 139:23-24).
Third, Christians are free from humanly devised rules of religion (Galatians 5:1; Romans 8:1-4; Colossians 2:9-23). This doesn’t apply to any civil law that doesn’t require us to break God’s laws (1 Peter 2:13-17; Romans 13:1-7; Acts 4:18-20: 5:27-32).
This concept of obedience makes a good segue to Paul’s instructions to Timothy, calling him a “good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3-4), one who wants to please his commander. Hence, Christians also are to be veterans of a sort, fighting the spiritual battle that rages against our souls (1 Peter 2:11).
We fight the battle, but God provides the protective armor and sword, and he actually wins the battle for us (Ephesians 6:10-18; 1 Samuel 17:47; 2 Chronicles 32:7-8; 2 Timothy 2:15; 3:14-17). It’s our responsibility to arm ourselves and participate in the battle as good soldiers of Christ (James 4:6-10; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
Even then, we must remember the shield of faith and rely on God for the victory like the great cloud of witnesses who fought the battle before us and are cheering us on, including Jesus (1 John 5:1-5; 1 Peter 1:3-9; Hebrews 5:7-9; 11:1 to 12:3). We must not retreat from this battle (Hebrews 10:35-39; Revelation 21:7-8). Rather, we must hold on to our faith in God, asking him to strengthen it when the struggles come (Hebrews 4:1-16; Mark 9:14-29).
Because of our faithfulness in the battle, like many of our nation’s veterans who came home with battle scars having served our nation well, we’ll bear the marks of Christ in and on our bodies for which we should be respected as in every way we make the gospel of salvation attractive to the world (Galatians 6:17; Titus 2:10-15; 1 Peter 2:12). Similarly, we should honor our nation’s veterans with thankfulness for their service (Romans 13:7).
Leonard Lauriault is a member of the Church of Christ in Logan who writes about faith for the Quay County Sun. Contact him at [email protected]