Memorial Day is all about remembering the sacrifice of others on our behalf.

Throughout the years of our nation’s existence, the price of freedom has been paid for us by others. The price is always paid in blood. From the first blood that was spilled on our own soil in the War for Independence all the way up to our modern wars, blood and death has been the cost of living free.

It is the endless cycle of liberty. Brave men die so the next generation can, in turn, live, fight, and die for the freedom of the generation after them.

While I am grateful beyond words for the sacrifice our fallen have made on my behalf, I am eternally grateful that there was a sacrifice made for my spiritual freedom that only had to be made once!

The perfect blood of Jesus was spilled on my behalf, and through it I have gained eternal freedom. Our heroes’ blood only pays for freedom for a while before more of our soldier’s blood must be spilled to pay for it again. But Jesus’ blood was the last blood ever needed to pay for our spiritual freedom.

His blood gave us the ability to be free in Christ Jesus! Through his sacrificial death, I am free from the chains of sin. I am free from the terror of the second death that is talked about in Revelation—that is, eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire.

Jesus Christ was the only perfect sacrifice ever offered. His death, burial, and resurrection opened the gateway into eternal life. It is only through repentance and faith in his redeeming work of the cross that any of us can enter into heaven. No work of man can ever wash away the stain of sin we each carry. Jesus’ blood is the only thing that can.

This coming weekend we are going to be contemplating and reflecting on the sacrifices made on our behalf by our fallen heroes. Have you ever contemplated how we can thank them? How we can honor their memories? I am the biggest proponent you will meet of honoring those who have paid for our freedom with their lives. To the families of those heroes, there is truly nothing we can say that can convey our deep gratitude. Nothing that can be said can show them how much we love and honor our fallen.

I heard it said once that if we want to say thank you to our fallen, we should “be the type of American worth dying for.” Are you the type of American worth dying for? Do you take your freedom for granted or do you hold onto it every day knowing that someone died for it? Do you realize that blood was spilled for your ability to vote, to speak freely, to live, to worship God as we believe the Bible teaches?

Our liberty was not handed to us. It has been fought for, protected, and died for. Throughout the course of our history as a nation, thousands have given their last breaths to see that freedom survives and lives to fight another day.

Are you an American worth dying for? If you want to thank those who have died in our place, be the type of American you need to be. Be the type of Believer you need to be. Go tell the lost about Jesus, and the ultimate sacrifice paid for us! Tell them that Jesus’ blood was the last sacrifice ever needed to pay for our spiritual freedom.

Let’s be Americans worth dying for.

Forever We’ll Remember!

A. M. Watson

Hebrews 13:8