A Truth to Ponder Every Month Series - July

The uniforms, twenty- one gun salute, taps. It’s enough to bring us to tears.

Recently my husband and I saw the movie Top Gun Maverick.

I pondered the appeal of military movies. It’s hardly glamourous. Boot camp, working in less-than-ideal conditions many times in unfamiliar territory, pushing your body to the brink and of course, putting your life on the line in war.

But the goal is justice. Fighting for what is right.

And we all want that.

Without spoiling it, there is a funeral in the movie. An admiral has passed away.

All military personnel are in uniform saluting the fallen soldier, taps playing in the background, and then the twenty-one gun salute. A sobering scene evoking deep emotions.

But why do military matters in general move us so?

The men and women of our armed forces are protecting – and when necessary fighting for– our freedom. And this is what we celebrate this month.

Like our first responders, service men and women we don’t even know are laying their lives on the line for us.

And this is exactly what God did - does - for us.

See, He created us to be free from the beginning.

Adam and Eve lived in perfect freedom and harmony with God until the fall when the battle between good and evil began.

Through sin, we stripped ourselves of our God-given freedom. We chose to live in a prison of our own making.

But God…

But how do we break free from this self-imposed prison holding us captive? How do we escape the invisible force threatening to trap us in eternal darkness? What – or who – is the answer?

Jesus

God knew we were going to betray Him. He knew we would get ourselves in trouble. He knew we would need saving.

Yet He still decided to save us. He planned ahead of time to sacrifice His One and Only Son Jesus Christ to pay the price for our sin and be our Savior.

Freedom isn’t free. The cost of our sin is death and separation from God.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32 ESV)

He loved each and every one of us so much He never wanted to live without us.

So Jesus, our perfect King, willingly died a horrific death on a cross for a sinful people.

And When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we gain true freedom. A freedom that can never be taken away.

This month we celebrate our freedom. May we celebrate not only our physical freedoms protected by God and our service men and women, but our ultimate freedom guaranteed for eternity by our superhero Jesus Christ.

While we still have to fight the battle daily while here on earth, the darkness has been defeated and the threat of eternal death annihilated.

Now that’s something to celebrate!