True sacrifice

Today, as has been well publicised, is the 65th anniversary of the D-Day Normandy landings that signalled the beginning of the end of the Second World War – at least in Europe. During the week, in the lead-up to the commemorative activities, a number of commentators spoke of the thousands of young men who willingly gave their lives for king and country. However, I would suggest that this was not really the case. The vast majority of those men were there, on the Normandy beaches, because they were conscripts. It was a commendable submission to a sense of duty that appears to be sadly lacking today; but it was not, for most, a willing sacrifice.

War does, of course, provide other examples of such sacrifice as one comrade willingly places himself in a dangerous situation for the sake of another – and pays the supreme price of his own life. However, even in such cases, it is not always a voluntary, calculated, sacrifice. Often, one hears of those who have performed such acts -without it having cost their own life - stating that they didn't even give any thought to their action: it was just a rush of adrenalin that saw them through!

The greatest war of all is the ‘War of the Worlds’ – not that portrayed in the novel by H.G.Wells, but that which takes place in the spiritual realm, between the forces of good and the forces of evil. It was in the context of that conflict that the greatest sacrifice of all time was made when, in the Persona of the Son (please listen to my audio-message on The Trinity at www.revcbross.blogspot.com), Almighty God hung on a cross, on a hill called Calvary – willingly, and lovingly, sacrificing Himself for a fallen, sinful, mankind, in order that we might have the opportunity of eternal life. Of course if, on the battle-field I am injured but, when my comrade-in-arms risks his own life in order to help me, I tell him to go away as I’ll manage on my own, then I am likely to perish. Similarly, anyone who receives the saving message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and rejects it, is condemning themselves to an eternity excluded from His Presence.

Today, many gave thanks – and it was right and proper that they should do so – for those who, willingly or not, died in order to ensure the physical freedom that so many of us enjoy. May it be that many, tomorrow (and every day!) will give thanks for the One Who gave His sinless life that we might know spiritual freedom now, and the joy of His Presence in eternity.