Today is the day once a year that we as a country set aside every year to be intentional about being reminded, saying thank you, and honoring those who have fallen in our military as they fought for the rights and freedoms we hold today. It is a wonderful way of not forgetting those who have gone before and paid the ultimate price for the freedoms we experience today.

As I think about this, and certainly not intending to take anything away from those who serve, have served, and especially those who died while serving in our military, I pray that we as believers would not only do this, but that we would be reminded that our ultimate devotion and thanks on this Memorial Day be to our great Lord. As Psalm 127:1 declares "for unless the Lord guards the city the watchman keeps awake in vain."

And indeed the Lord stands watch and guards His own, even making a way for His enemies to become His own, for Romans 5:8 teaches us that "God demonstrates His love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

And He doesn't stop there. Romans 5:9-10 tells believers that "having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."

I think these days mean more to us because we know, as the Bible declares, that there is no greater gift we can give than to lay down our lives for others. Hundreds of thousands of men and women in our military have done this. We say thank you. Hopefully this reminder takes our minds to the gospel.

I pray that we we as believers would take a moment and say thank you to those who are and have served, to families whose loved ones laid down their lives, but let this thanks ultimately be directed to our great Lord and what He gave and gives, "for His lovingkindnesses never cease, His compassions never fail and are new every morning, great is His faithfulness (Lam. 3:22-23)." Even providing thru those who served in our military as Romans 13 teaches us that they are "ministers of God" knowingly or unknowingly. God uses our military to deal with evil. So praise ultimately is directed to Him.

In the OT when the Lord showed Himself in a great or new way, the person would often times build an alter there and name the place in order to remind them and others of the Lord and what He did. The alter would memorialize what the Lord had done for everyone to see and be reminded. This is a great discipline to discourage forgetfulness.

May our lives be filled with these so that we nor others forget and are constantly reminded that the Lord is always good and faithful, and that Jesus' life was offered for sin's payment to appease the wrath of God that believers could experience forgiveness and eternal life, could rightly be declared righteous. May others see these reminders in and thru our lives to the Glory of the Lord. Even today. And may our praise ultimately be to the Lord for the great things He has done.