Reflecting on the power of sacrifice

Wednesday is Veterans Day. A day set aside to remember men and women of every generation who have served our great nation in the military. They have sacrificed much -- some their lives -- for each of us to enjoy and savor the freedoms that we enjoy on a daily basis.

When you get the opportunity to travel outside the borders of our great nation, you get not only a better appreciation for our own melting-pot culture but also the great sacrifice that so many voluntarily took upon themselves for men and women they would never meet. Veterans Day reminds us, or at least it should, of the power of sacrifice. Of the honor that comes from keeping commitments and of the pride from fulfilling duty.

If there were one word to summarize the Christian faith, it would be sacrifice. The story of the Christian faith is of God creating every element, including those parts of deepest space that are just now being seen. In his creation he chose to make men and women the pinnacle of his design. All was good on the day of its creation, but man and woman were very good. This is only the beginning of the story. The conflict of story rests in the actions of Adam and Eve that is genetically and legally carried throughout generation after generation. The conflict rests in the deception that God cannot be trusted.

The conflict was an act of deception. The fallout was to act on this mistrust. The results were pain, suffering and all of life being removed from it's created purpose. Here, like the phoenix, is where the story of faith emerges.

Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) Here is the sacrifice of faith: Jesus, laying his life down for his friends who rejected him, friends who shunned him, friends who later defended him to the point of death.

Sacrifices are made for those whom there is great love. For our soldiers, it is a love of the greatest nation on earth. For those of faith, it is a love for the pinnacle of creation.

Rob Hurtgen is a husband, father, minister and writer. Read more from him at www.robhurtgen.wordpress.com.