REFLECTIONS

Lest We Forget

From atop Mount Nebo, Moses peered across the land he would never enter. But the people he led there would. So as he looked over the land flowing with milk and honey God had promised them, he recalled the struggles they had faced in the forty years of their travels and the many timely blessings from God that came along the way. But he also thought about the battles still to face, the spoils from the victories they would enjoy, and the future they would shape for their children yet to be born. He found a message there–a message that he expressed in part:

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe… so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:1-9)

Moses’ words to the Israelites ring just as true for our nation today. Each day we awaken blessed to live in cities we did not build, with wells we did not dig, gardens we did not plant, and we live like we feel entitled to it. Yet above us a banner of stars and stripes flies majestically in the wind as our symbol of liberty and freedom to honor God. We pause to salute its presence from time to time, but even more its meaning. We pause to thank those who gave their lives for the way of life we enjoy; but lest we forget and that they should know, we must remember to tell our children the stories of sacrifice that made it so. We must live those stories as if they are our own. And we also must tell them that victory wasn’t won alone.

We must tell them of God’s love and grace. And lest we forget, we must tell of the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus the Christ, who gave his life that our lives may be eternal.

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org

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