Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
It occurred to me that this year, Memorial Day will fall about halfway between Mother’s Day, which I wrote about in my last article, and Father’s Day, which I’ll write about in a future article.
All three holidays were established to remember specific people. While it’s easy to recognize who we remember on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, the focus of Memorial Day has changed over the years — from concentrating on those who gave their lives in military service to America to all Americans who’ve passed on as indicated by the decorating of many graves of those who didn’t lose their lives while serving our country.
Without taking anything away from those who died in the line of duty in the military or as first responders, many others also have served our country as good citizens in honest hard work making America great, and we should remember them as well (1 Thessalonians 2:9; 4:11-12; 5:12-13; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Ephesians 4:28).
With that in mind, we should always remember the greatest worker of all — God, first in creation and then to provide all we need for life and godliness (Ecclesiastes 12:1-7; Acts 17:24-25; 2 Peter 1:3-4). Everything God does is for our benefit to bring him glory (Deuteronomy 8:1-5; 1 Chronicles 16:8-12; Psalm 111:1-10; 1 Corinthians 10:31; 1 Peter 4:11; Isaiah 60:1-22, esp. verse 21).
Notice in Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 that we’re to remember God as our Creator and provider: Before dark, after rain and when new clouds appear (or not, depending on your Bible translation), after our daily grind, at fearful times, when we awake with the sound of birds (or our alarm clock), when spring and summer flowers appear (and even insect pests) and when others pass on. God has given us all these and more events, so we’ll remember and turn to him before the silver cord is severed at our own passing (Acts 17:26-27; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Hebrews 9:27-28; 2 Corinthians 5:9-10).
God’s greatest work was sending Jesus to stand in our place taking the punishment for our sin to provide for our salvation (John 17:1-5; Matthew 20:28; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Hebrews 9:15; Romans 3:23; 6:23). We must never forget that work, which is why God also gave Christians the Lord’s Supper as a personal weekly reminder of the work he did in us when we became Christians, but also to let others know how important God is by our example of regular church attendance (Hebrews 2:1-4; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; 16:1-2; Colossians 2:9-12; Romans 6:3-5; Acts 2:38-39; Hebrews 10:19-31; 1 Peter 2:11-12).
Have you allowed God to do his great work of salvation in you (Philippians 2:12-15)? Now is the time for that (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).
Otherwise, for this coming Memorial Day, remember all the Americans, famous or not, who’ve contributed so much to America’s greatness. We’ve lost several of those here in Quay County since the beginning of this year who’ll be sorely missed, but their example is still there to follow to keep America great.
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].