Why We Remember

Memorial Day is a highly-celebrated holiday in American culture. Yet too often, we associate the time with cookouts, vacations, parties, and three-day weekends.

This day should hold special significance for us, especially as Christians. But why does it feel like another event on the calendar?

We are always on the go. Pew Research found that 60% of Americans feel that sometimes they are too busy to even enjoy life (1). In turn, more than double as many Americans reported cognitive disability in 2023 than in 2013, up to nearly 10% (2). American culture is widely considered the most busy in the world.

But what does that have to do with remembering fallen troops? You might ask.

It comes back to the idea of "remembering".

We are a society ridden with overwhelmed schedules, constant demands, and endless scrolling into a digital world. If I'm honest, I struggle to create time to pause, reflect, and much less pray for the safety and sacrifice of the people who put their lives on the line for us every day.

That is what Memorial Day reminds us as Americans - that we are nothing without sacrifice.

But there is a deeper layer to this holiday that we as Christians should always remember first and foremost. A sinful man's sacrifice may maintain our political, economic, and societal freedoms, albeit for a time. But the only Sacrifice that saved humanity from the depravity of sin and the consequence of death is the death of Jesus Christ. Through Him, we have true, lasting, eternal freedom from bondage - and no government or foreign enemy can control that freedom.

This Memorial Day, please take a few minutes to stop. There is no better way to dwell on freedom than to remember how it was won - through sacrifice.

Silence your cell phone. Step away from the friends at the cookout. Pray deeply and reflect gratefully.

Live free today. But do not forget what it cost for you to live free.