As you know, last Thursday was Veterans Day. Are there veterans here today? If so, would you mind standing up? I’ve asked you to stand up so that I can personally thank you for my freedom to stand up here today. Thank you. Please be seated.
I want to take a moment and reflect on the history of this holiday. Veterans Day, or rather Armistice Day as it was first called, started as a way to recognize veterans who fought in “The Great War”, or as it is commonly known now, World War I. This war was the most horrific in modern history, to that time. Depending on which figures you look at, the war caused 37 million casualties. To put this in perspective, about 2% of the world’s population at the time was killed or injured due to this war. In 1938, on the eve of the second world war, the 11th day of the 11th month, or Armistice Day, was proclaimed a legal holiday, and was to be celebrated in both schools and churches.
Of course, World War II started not long after, and the sacrifice of more blood was necessary to once again stem the tide of evil. This time, about 60 million individuals, nearly double the number of the first war, made the ultimate sacrifice.
As a child, I grew up in a family that had very strong ties to history. My father and two of my uncles have bachelor’s or advanced degrees in history. So as a young child, I listened with rapt attention to the stories of historical events. I read about the campaigns of Alexander, Julius Caesar, George Washington, Napoleon, Grant, Lee, and Pershing. I have to admit that my favorite was that of General George Patton. Often, I would imagine that I was in Patton’s Army as we swept the evil Nazis out of western Europe. Needless to say, I often imagined myself at the forefront of “the good guys” fighting the “bad guys”. Unfortunately, I developed a medical condition that would not let me serve my country, and my God, as these veterans did.
I shared all of this so that you may have some background into what we are going to talk about. In my teenage years, I started reading long passages of the Bible. The apostle Paul, who more or less wrote most books of the New Testament, admonishes his readers that they were locked in a battle. Now Christians in the 1st century were used to conflict of some nature. Many had been persecuted already by Jewish leaders throughout Israel. Of course, there were also conflicts with the Romans as well. But Paul tells them that this is not the struggle that they need to place importance on. There was another struggle out there. And they were warriors in a spiritual battle of good versus evil. It’s a battle that has no middle ground. In this struggle, there are no bystanders. There are no neutral corners. Paul’s words are still true today.
As I grew older, I understood and witnessed that there was still a battle between good and evil, and still a need for warriors. Not just flesh and blood soldiers like those who fought the Kaiser’s men, and later those of Hitler, but also spiritual ones that Paul talked about as well. We each have the capability to become a spiritual warrior, and I want to share that concept with you today.
What does a spiritual warrior do? Well, as the author of Ecclesiastes admonishes us, “the whole of our duty…is keeping God’s commandments”. The author continues saying that all of our actions will be judged, and in Paul’s letter to the Romans this is confirmed. Obviously, keeping to God’s commandments is a large part of being a soldier on the side of good, but the judgment of keeping to those commandments is left to God.
The ultimate spiritual warrior, Jesus, left many lessons on how to fight evil. In John 14, Jesus says that “he who believes in me will also do the works that I do”. Obviously, I could talk for hours about all the actions that Jesus did, and about how each could apply to being a spiritual warrior. However, I would probably soon put everyone here to sleep. I am going to talk briefly about two of these.
The first, and most important, is sacrifice. Jesus sacrificed many things during his short time on Earth. His life itself, of course, comes most often to mind. Most of us will not need to make that same choice. We live in a free society, and aside from our veterans, will not be asked to lay down our lives for our fellow man. We can, however, make small sacrifices. Many Christians miss the small sacrifices Jesus made in his life. For example, Jesus washed the disciples feet the night of the last supper, thus sacrificing his pride in an example of humility. Jesus also taught in Luke that you must sacrifice your hatred for your enemies, which as Jesus taught is very difficult. What else can we sacrifice as spiritual warriors? How about a few dollars to feed someone who is hungry, or clothe someone who is cold? How about a few hours to show someone a marketable skill to get them back onto their feet and into the job market? Modern spiritual warriors can truly fight the evils of the world by making these types of small sacrifices.
Secondly, as Jesus said in Matthew, be a lamp of light for your fellow man. Become a shining example of God’s glory. As Matthew wrote, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works”, and (most importantly) attribute those good works to God. What are these good works? The Bible gives many good examples. For instance, in Luke Jesus taught “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind”. Jesus is saying to us follow my father’s commandments, make these small sacrifices, and direct the praise to God. Be the respite against the dark forces of the world. For that is truly the path to being a spiritual warrior.
What is the reward of being a spiritual warrior? Obviously, the more warriors on the side of good, the better place that Earth will be. But the ultimate reward is not on Earth but our place in the kingdom of heaven. Be that spiritual warrior, and at the end of your life, you will truly be able to say “I am coming home.”
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