Blood, Sweat, and Tears

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. –1 Peter 1:18-19 NIV

Our freedom was bought at a high cost. One that money cannot buy. Instead, it was bought with blood, sweat, and tears. Today on Memorial Day, we remember the men and women who gave their lives for our freedom. On the battlefields, in the skies, and on the seas—stationed here at home or deployed far away—these brave men and women gave their all. Let us never forget their great sacrifices! Someone else laid down His life so that we might be free as well—Jesus, the Lamb of God. With tears dripping down His face as He prayed, sweat pouring from His body as He carried a heavy wooden cross through Jerusalem, and blood pouring from His hands and feet as He was nailed to the Cross, Jesus willingly allowed the enemy to kill His earthly body. Jesus knew that He would experience all that pain, yet He still chose to endure it so that we might be free from the penalty of sin. Jesus loves us that much! Just as our brave military men and women willingly laid down their lives for freedom, so too did Jesus willingly lay His life down for you and for me. Let us never forget those sacrifices that required so much blood, sweat, and tears, yet grant us so much freedom in life and in death.