Today's Devotional

 

September 5, 2008

                                                                                                                        

Subject:  If You Don't Know The Sacrifice 

1 Corinthians 2:7-8 "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory.  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." 

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As I am prone to do, I was "discussing" political issues with a coworker yesterday.  She was stating how Presidential contender, John McCain had left his wife upon returning from Vietnam.  Of course being a military war veteran, I immediately came to his defense and talked about how crazy war could make you and then went on to tell her how he had spent five and a half years in captivity, being tortured and abused.  This isn't an excuse, but as my wife can attest to for me, after these types of experiences, and mine was not nearly as intense as his, it takes time to readjust to life.  

The bigger issue here though is one that I told my wife about the other day.  We have celebrations and honor our military veterans throughout the year, but I think many people honor them with their lips, but have little understanding of the real sacrifice of people who have been tortured for the freedom of this country.  Lots of people say, we thank him (John McCain) and people like him for his/their service to our country, but that doesn't qualify him...yada, yada, yada.  Perhaps that alone doesn't qualify him, but surely it speaks to the character of someone who would sacrifice when called upon to do it.

This is like unto what happens to those who take Jesus for granted, both believers and unbelievers.  They will look at all He has done and say thank you and then live lives as though His sacrifice meant nothing to them.  For some it took the movie, The Passion, to see some of the sacrifice.  For others, it may take a simple reading of God's word, because if you don't know the sacrifice, there will be little respect for the actions.  

Today find out what Jesus sacrificed just for you.  It will make a world of difference.  I mean a real world of difference once you know.  

Carlen