Freedom Isn’t Free, Is It?

This is the weekend each year when we pause to memorialize those who have gone before us in life, especially those who have given their lives to provide us with the freedom we enjoy in this country.  In my small town, there is a modest monument to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in one of the various wars our country has fought.  I’ll bet your town has one just like it.  Reading over the list of lives lost causes me to pause and be grateful for their sacrifice.  If you’ve ever run your fingers over the names engraved on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington DC, or walked the rows of graves in a National Cemetery, or paused to mourn those memorialized at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington, then you know the feelings of which I’m writing today. 

Name after name that proves our freedom came at great cost to some.  Why do we need to remind ourselves that “freedom isn’t free”?  Because for many of us who have not directly sacrificed, we may not fully comprehend what it cost SOMEONE.  We must be reminded lest we lose sight of the immense price someone paid for something we may not value as much as we should.

Knowing that human nature requires reminding, the author of Hebrews seeks to make sure we never forget the price SOMEONE paid to provide us with the freedom we have in Christ.  In Hebrews 11, we are led on a virtual stroll through the cemetery of faith, pausing to look at some of the names on the “tombstones” there.  We see Abel and Enoch, Noah and Abraham; Sarah and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph.  And then later in the chapter, the writer takes us on a visit to the “Tomb of the Unknowns”:

Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection.  Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.  They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated -  the world was not worthy of them.   Hebrews 11:35-38

You might want to read that list again, just to honor the MANY heroes of the faith who never had their names recorded for us.  In America, we celebrate names like Washington, and Lincoln, and Jefferson.  But how many of our countrymen have given their lives whose names you might not know and never will?  Regarding your faith, how many lives were spent to offer you the simple Gospel you learned as a child:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.   John 3:16

Young voices are free in this country to sing, “Jesus loves me, this I know.  For the Bible tells me so.  Little ones to Him belong; they are weak, but He is strong.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me – the Bible tells me so.”  Who do you think made it possible?

For those who are helpless and hopeless and defenseless, champions have always arisen to battle.  Men and women have battled to protect our country from division and oppression and anarchy.  Men and women of faith through the ages have fought for truth and righteousness and equality in Christ.  No one gave more than Jesus Himself, who made our hope for forgiveness a reality.  And though your name may never appear on a monument of faith, is it worth it to live your life sacrificing all for those who will still come after you?  Yes.

Lives spent on behalf of freedom will rightfully be honored this weekend.  Lives dedicated to sharing the priceless Gospel of Christ will be celebrated for eternity. 

Jacob