Honoring the Heroic Sacrifice of Our Savior
I’m just finishing a book about the Tuskegee Airmen, the highly skilled but greatly undervalued black pilots who engaged in a number of pivotal missions for the United States during World War II.
Like all pilots of that era, they put their lives on the line with every mission, but unlike their white counterparts, they were not embraced as heroes until many years later.
How sad that we often fail to recognize people for who they are and what they have done until they have passed. Fortunately, their legacy lives on long after they are gone.
We could say the same thing about Jesus. As our Savior, he is definitely our hero, but most did not recognize him as such during his time on earth. Fortunately, his legacy is now indisputable, and as believers, we are blessed to have a relationship with him.
One would think by now — more than 2,000 years after his death and resurrection — that everyone would know, accept, and embrace him as their Lord and Savior, but we know that that is not the case. In fact, things are trending in the opposite direction. Churches are a shadow of what they once were, and our behavior as a society is anything but godly.
The question is, “can we turn things around?” I wish I could be more optimistic, but I have my doubts. Fortunately, as believers, we are not without hope. The great evangelist, Robert Shuler, authored a book, titled, If It’s Going to Be, It’s Up to Me, and indeed, each of us is called according to the gifts that God has bestowed upon us.
Perhaps we can make a special effort during Holy Week to honor the heroic sacrifice of our Savior by sharing our faith with others and inviting them to consider a relationship with the Lord.
It’s may not seem like a life-and death situation, like those faced by the Tuskegee Airmen, but when you think about it, that’s exactly what it is.
Until we meet again, Be Blessed! – Pastor John