DAILY DEVOTIONAL – November 11, 2019
“Eternal Credit”
Prayer: Jesus, You are the eternal hero. You fought the fight and won the victory we had no hope of winning. Thank you Lord for Your gift of salvation. Amen.
Scripture: Romans 3:21-26
“21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Devotional – “Eternal Credit”
Today as a nation here in America, we honor and pay tribute to our military veterans. As American citizens, we enjoy an unparalleled freedom in the world to be able to worship openly and according to our conscience and without fear of prejudice or persecution from our own government. Though there are many different heroes who have served this country and protected its freedoms in many ways not having to do with military service, there can be no argument against the fact that the men and women of our military have sacrificed so much and given of themselves in order to protect those freedoms.
In 2016 the New York times released an article about a federal court in California who ruled that a former US Marine, Elven Joe Swisher, would be allowed to wear and display his service medals in public, including the Purple Heart and the Silver Star. Why was there a federal court hearing to determine if a Marine could wear his own medals in public? Well, because, Elven Swisher did not earn the medals he wanted to wear. Despite being found to have used his un-earned medals to successfully apply for and receive government disability and other financial benefit programs, the court still ruled to allow Swisher to wear them. Swisher argued that wearing them was a matter of free speech. Unfortunately, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco ruled that Mr. Swisher, who was honorably discharged from the Marines in 1957, had the right to wear the medals, including the Purple Heart and the Silver Star, even though he had not been awarded them.
As you can imagine, Swisher’s case and the courts ruling touched on a sensitive issue that got the attention of Congress and the courts, and was scrutinized by groups dedicated to confirming when people, either motivated by profit or status, claim to be military heroes but are not.
Larry C. Kinard, the national president of the Korean War Veterans Association, said that, “It is very important that those who wear any kind of decoration earned what they wear.” Kinard went on to say that bogus claims like these were an affront to those true heroes like his friend, a former Korean War Marine, who lost a leg and an eye as a result of combat.
There are many things about this story that should rightfully confuse and frustrate us. What is the point of awarding medals for exceptional acts of valor, if you don’t have to commit an exceptional act of valor in order to wear one? Especially when you are wearing them to take advantage of the very government that awards those medals?
At first glance, you might feel the same outrage I felt when I read this news report. “How dare these people take credit for acts of courage and bravery they never performed!” And yet, the truth is, you and I as Christians, as those who have the hope and assurance of the reward of heaven itself, only have that hope and will only receive that reward because we have been given credit for and have been permitted to claim the righteousness and faithfulness and worthiness of someone else.
Jesus single-handedly took on the temptations of the Devil in the wilderness and overcame them perfectly. Jesus endured faithfully in the Garden of Gethsemane, overcoming the mental and emotional terror of the cross He knew lay ahead of Him, and all while His disciples couldn’t stay awake to pray for or comfort Him. Jesus stood alone before Pontius Pilate and remained silent as He was falsely accused and condemned to be crucified for sins He did not commit, for your sins and my sins, so that through His death and resurrection from the dead you and I would be credited with His righteousness and forgiven through His perfect blood shed for our salvation and so that you and I could rightfully claim to be the children of God through faith in Christ.
As Scripture says so clearly in our text for today, “For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”
So my friends, as you take time today to thank God for and honor the men and women who have sacrificed for our temporary and earthly freedoms, may we never lose sight or focus of our One, True hero – our Lord and Savior Jesus who sacrificed more than we could ever give, so that by faith in His miraculous work and victory over our enemy of sin, death and the devil, we would receive the eternal freedom and salvation we did not and could not earn.
God bless you, and remember that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today, and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
