Say Yes to the Fight
By
Elizabeth Cole
“Go
in peace and be freed…”
Mark
5:34b (NIV)
Today is one of those
mixed-emotion days. With great solemnity, many of our fellow citizens will
visit cemeteries today with spring blooms in their hands and tears on their
faces. The day was originally called Decorating Day when it began shortly after
the Civil War: a day to honor our fallen soldiers and to decorate their tombs
with flowers. To acknowledge that our peace was acquired with a price they paid
with their death.
And then with great
joy, our fellow citizens will fire up the barbecue, plant some annuals and
delight in the presence of the living. I’ll have a college student just
arriving home, and she’ll be celebrating her freedom today…spelled
S.U.M.M.E.R.
President Theodore
Roosevelt said in his 1902 Memorial Day speech, “Peace and freedom. Are there
two better objects for which a soldier can fight?”
As a nation, we will spend
today in peace and in freedom because others said “yes” to the fight.
As followers of Christ,
we will spend today in peace and in freedom because our Creator said “yes” to
the cross. Because Jesus says to us, as He said to the woman healed after 12
years of bloody suffering, “Go in peace and be freed…”
So I’m wondering what
we’re doing today with that oh-so-costly peace and freedom. I wonder but that
some of us have mistaken what real peace looks like, seeking it in
circumstances… where there is no peace. Not recognizing that Jesus offers
Himself and that “in me you have peace. In this world you will have trouble.
But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NIV). Or that we’ve
forgotten how we get to use our freedom:
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not
use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in
love” (Galatians 5:13, NIV).
That peace and freedom
we have, both physically and spiritually? Given so that we can serve in love,
so that we can “fight the good fight” for others to experience the same. For under-aged sex trafficking
victims in Milwaukee to experience peace and freedom. For refugee
mamas and their littles who escaped an ISIS-ravaged town to find peace and
freedom. For…[you fill in the blank]…to know peace and freedom.
“Peace and freedom. Are
there two better objects for which the follower of Jesus can fight?”
Say yes to the fight
today.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Where is God calling
you to fight for peace and freedom for others?
FURTHER READING:
Elizabeth
is a wife with three grown daughters and two sons-in-law, and is the Director
of Connecting at Oakwood Church.
