Recognizing the Wartime Dead and the Cause for Which They Died

Today marks a solemn observance, Memorial Day, when our thoughts turn to the men and women who have sacrificed their lives in service to our country. The first national observance, then known as Decoration Day, was held in May 1868. More than 100 years later, Congress declared Memorial Day a federal holiday to be observed the last Monday in May.

 

An American flag flies
proudly in Burlington, VT.

Wars are terrible. We hate them, as we should. But as history has proven time and again, sometimes wars are unavoidable. Why? I believe we find the answer – at least for the U.S.A. – in the final and least-known stanza of the poem by Francis Scott Key that became our National Anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner.

Written by attorney Key during the War of 1812, that concluding verse affirmed what most Americans believed at that time:

Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land

Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us as a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto – ‘In God Is Our Trust.’

 

As I’ve been reading through a hefty volume called The Founders’ Bible, the complete Bible plus hundreds of articles, commentaries and notes about what the America’s founding fathers truly thought about the Bible and Christianity, I’ve been amazed. George Washington, the first President of the United States, said:

“It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly implore His protection and favor.” 

 

Washington’s successor, John Adams, echoed those sentiments:

“The safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and the blessings of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgement of this truth is…an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him.”

 

The Founders’ Bible presents hundreds of quotations from dozens more of the founding fathers, including those with names like Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, John Hancock, and Noah Webster. Contrary to common contemporary belief, the framers of our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution saw no cause for excluding matters of faith and piety from conduct and policies in the public square.

 

So, as we honor and memorialize the self-sacrifices of the countless thousands of men and women who have given their lives on battlefields at home and abroad, we can be assured they did not do so without purpose – or in vain. 

 

Proverbs 14:34 declares, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.” We’re living in an age when virtues of righteousness are sneered at and disparaged. As a consequence, we seem to be reaping the result – sin that condemns any people.

 

As the ancient Israelites were poised to finally enter the Promised Land, which would necessitate doing battle with hostile, pagan nations, Moses gave them this charge:

“See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, ‘Surely, this great nation is a wise and understanding people.' And what other nation is so great as to have their gods near to them the way the Lord our God is near to us whenever we pray to Him?" (Deuteronomy 4:5-7).

Despite our nation’s spiritual heritage, which was necessarily bathed in bloodshed of noble soldiers, we seem to have forgotten admonitions from our founding fathers and the Scriptures themselves. As we soberly and thankfully remember those who lost their lives in defense of the United States and its underlying principles, may we pray to see a return to the beliefs and practices that make for a nation that is exalted by righteousness. 

Remaining Steadfast Amid Severe Winds of Change

Granite quarry in Vermont.

Of late I’ve been thinking about a word we don’t often use these days, but one that history has consistently held in high regard. It’s a proud, noble and virtuous term. The word is steadfast.

Despite the apparently lack of appreciation for this word in contemporary culture, it’s used repeatedly in the Bible. One verse I learned early in my Christian life is Isaiah 26:3, “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You.” The New International Version says it a bit differently, but equally effective: “You [the Lord] will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You.”

We see the word again in Psalm 112, which declares, “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments…. He does not fear bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord” (Psalm 112:1,7).

 

What is this word, “steadfast”? One definition of it is, “resolutely or dutifully firm.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as “a steady and unwavering course in love, allegiance, or conviction…firmly fixed in place, not subject to change.” For me, the word also evokes the term “stand firm.” Put together, these definitions and synonyms call to mind someone who isn’t easily moved in the beliefs or standards they follow.

 

Why is this important? Because the foundational principles, virtues and values upon which our society was built and established are under assault, being attacked by gale force winds of change, compromise and watered-down convictions.

 

Whenever we read about great exploits, whether it’s being the first to climb a mountain like Mount Everest, engaging in combat, developing a championship sports team, or founding a great nation like the United States, we can’t avoid encountering men and women who remained steadfast, unbending, filled with rock-solid resolve in the pursuit of their goals.

 

I’ve been reading The Founders’ Bible, an edition of the Scriptures that also includes hundreds of articles, brief commentaries, and notes about how our Founding Fathers clung to their convictions and beliefs in the face of formidable, almost impossible odds. They were, in a word, steadfast.

 

In our walk of faith, we’d be wise to keep that word foremost in our minds. With everything that we see and hear transpiring all around us, it’s clear that like it or not, we’re involved in an intense spiritual war. Perhaps more than ever before, we must remain steadfast to avoid succumbing to the ongoing assault.

 

We read about this in 1 Corinthians 15:58, where the apostle Paul exhorted Christ followers in ancient Corinth, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” The NIV translates the word as “stand firm.”

 

The Corinthians could have used any variety of excuses for wandering from the faith, from everyday challenges they faced to the emergence of false teachers seeking to lure them away from the bedrock truths of the Gospel that they had learned and were living by.

 

King David, who experienced more than his share of opposition and adversity, wrote about the importance of standing firm. In Psalm 57:7 he wrote, “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast…. I will praise You, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of You among the peoples.”

 

Even if we’re not of the spiritual stature of an apostle Paul or King David, the importance of a steadfast, uncompromising approach to life and faith is vital. Like a competitor in a marathon, we must remain fixed on our goal, the imperative of finishing our life’s race well – and serving God well as we do so.

 

The peer pressure is there. Prevailing messages in our culture beckon us to veer off course, “losing our first love” as the church in Ephesus was described (Revelation 2:4). Another ancient church cited in the next chapter, the body of believers in Laodicea, was said to be “lukewarm – neither cold nor hot.” Because of this, God said, “I am about to spit you out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:16).

 

The one who is not steadfast, who chooses instead to straddle the fence or is susceptible to losing heart, is like what we find pictured in James 1:6, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave in the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”

For many of us, Sunday mornings are times when it’s fairly easy to stand firm. We hear wonderful praise songs and hymns, a strong, biblically based message, and enjoy the company of like-minded believers. That’s good. But what happens when it’s Monday morning and the alarm of reality goes off, we go to the office and the phone rings, or we enter the classroom where contradictory views and values are espoused. Can we stand firm, remain steadfast even then? 

What Better Standard for Treating One Another?

Several years ago, a friend recommended reading The Founders’ Bible: The Origin of the Dream of Freedom, compiled by historian David Barton and general editors Brad Cummings and Lance Wubbels. Along with the complete Bible in the New American Standard version, it contains hundreds of articles and extensive commentary about what our Founding Fathers thought about Christianity, the Bible, and their role in the shaping of our nation.

 

My family bought me a copy of The Founders’ Bible as a birthday present a couple years back, and I’m finally starting the enjoyable and enlightening process of reading through it. One commentary I came across recently concerned the “Golden Rule,” which Jesus Christ presented in Matthew 7:12, “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

This Bible’s contributors cited statements from several leaders that figured prominently in our nation’s history who affirmed that principle. One was John Adams, our second President and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, who said, “One great advantage of the Christian religion is that it brings the great principle [of the Golden Rule]…to the knowledge, belief, and veneration of the whole people.” 

 

Another was Frederick Douglas, a minister, statesman and abolitionist, who declared, “I love the religion of our blessed Savior!... I love that religion that is based upon the glorious principle of love to God and love to man (Luke 10:27) – which makes its followers do unto others as they themselves would be done by (Matthew 7:12).”

 

The commentary closed with the statement, “Today, two thousand years after Jesus initially delivered it to His followers, the Golden Rule remains the best standard for how we should treat one another.” Indeed, where – whether in vast realms of religion, philosophy, sociology or psychology – can we find a better standard for treating one another?

 

At the same time, this concept was not some brainstorm Jesus had 2,000 years ago during His earthly ministry. When asked – actually challenged – by a religious leader to specify which was the greatest of all commandments, He responded by referring to Old Testament teachings. 

 

He said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:36, Luke 10:27). These were taken from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, passages the Pharisees and others in the religious hierarchy of that day would have known very well.

 

While similar perspectives might appear in other belief systems, Christianity is unique in making these statements foundational for faithful belief and practice. Exodus 20:1-17 gives us the Ten Commandments, but in a wonderful economy of words, Jesus gave a clear and concise summation of them, the first four commandments addressing our relationship with God, and the subsequent six describing how we should interact with one another.

 

It's been said that in the seats of power, such as politics or business, there’s a very different “golden rule” espoused: “He who has the gold, rules.” But that’s not at all what the Lord had in mind when He gave this teaching to both His disciples and His detractors.

 

We find this truth permeating the Scriptures. We’re taught to fear God – holding Him in reverent, worshipful awe, acknowledging His greatness and power – and to love our “neighbors,” anyone we encounter over the course of our lives from day to day, even to the point of sacrificing our best interests so we can put others’ needs and concerns ahead of ourselves.

 

That’s what Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan is all about, even though as our society has drifted further and further from having the Word of God as its anchor, many people would be hard-pressed to identify where the term “good Samaritan” originated.

 

Imagine if by some miracle, people actually began treating other people the way that they themselves would want to be treated; that they actually started loving their fellow man and woman just as they’d like to be loved themselves, unconditionally and without reservation.

Indeed, if that were to be the case, we could probably strike half of the laws off the books – maybe more than that – and no one would ever know the difference.