This week, I had the honor of giving a short address for Riverside’s annual Veteran’s Day ceremony. I thought I’d post it here for you to read if you’re interested.
Rodney Gehman
Veterans Day Address
November 11, 2024
Today people from all over our great country gather together to honor and remember our veterans. We gather with a sense of pride and respect that no doubt often falls short of what their sacrifice deserves.
The Bible tells us in Genesis 1, the very first chapter of the Bible, that when God created humanity, he made us in his image. That means he made us to be reflections of his character and nature to the rest of the world. And what we find is that scripture uses multiple word pictures to describe how people carry God’s image. Farmers, for example. Jesus used the illustration of farming as an example of how the kingdom of heaven functions. He talked about certain aspects of managers and business as ways God is reflected in the world. Another example is that of parents. God refers to himself as Father – the kind of father who is compassionate and merciful as well as just and fair. He also refers to himself as a hen that gathers her chicks close to protect them from harm.
But another picture that appears frequently in the Bible, describing ways that God’s character is reflected in the world is that of a warrior. A soldier. In fact, Exodus 15:3 is a line from a song of praise that says, “The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.” In other places, God is described as a Defender. A rescuer. Psalm 144 says the LORD trains our hands for battle and our fingers for warfare. He is our fortress, our stronghold and our deliverer. A shield and a refuge.
So we honor our veterans today not only because they served our country, but because of how they represent the God of the Bible to us. It’s in the story of Jesus that we find the ultimate picture of rescue and deliverance, where the God who made heaven and earth and everything in it, sends his own eternal Son to willingly step into harms way, knowing he would die for the sins we had committed against God and against each other. Some of Jesus’ last words to his disciples before his crucifixion were these: “No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.”
And because Jesus willingly gave his life in obedience to the Father, God raised Jesus from the dead, ascended him to the throne of heaven, and even now, he awaits the signal to once again return to earth – not as a baby in a manger this time, but this time as a warrior, eliminating his enemies once and for all, and establishing his kingdom where there is no war, no loss, no pain, no sorrow, no evil. Scripture says it’s only by repentance and faith in Christ that we can make sure we’re on the right side of that exchange.
So in closing today, we honor those who have served our country because you represent the greatest love the world has ever seen – laying down your life for your friends. Today we honor those who didn’t run away from danger, but ran toward it so that others could live in safety. We honor those who spent hours and hours, developing skill and strength and knowledge on how to find, confront, and eliminate threats. We honor the families who kept things going at home, sacrificing for their country just the same, albeit in a very different way. We honor those who carry the wounds, the scars, the reminders – both physical and emotional – that are still healing; and we honor the memory of those who are no longer with us.
And finally, in the words of President Ronald Reagan, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” So, thank you to all of our veterans who have done and are doing precisely that.
Freedom is a gift that was not cheap. So may we all be diligent to steward our freedom wisely in our days; may we be diligent to pass on a culture of honor and gratitude and respect – even for those we may disagree with – and may we truly be a nation that is indivisible, under God, with liberty and justice for all.