Greater Purpose

In World War I, Chaplain Charles Brent, the Chief Chaplain over the American Expeditionary Force, shared these words in a memorial address, “Yonder they lie, along that front where with face to the foe they counted not their lives dear unto themselves but bore the standard of liberty onward.” Our veterans serve and sacrifice because they recognize that their lives serve a greater purpose.  

Chaplain Brent is alluding to a quote from Paul in Acts 20:24, “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” The common theme here is that our lives are not our own. As followers of Christ, we are able to view our life in this world with an eternal perspective. Because of grace, we can boldly go out into the world knowing that we belong to Christ now and in eternity.

This eternal perspective guides us as we live our lives. We view people as fellow image bearers who were created to be in relationship with the Lord. That perspective enables us to love sacrificially and place the needs of others before ourselves. That is the example placed before us as we reflect on our veterans, individuals who place the needs of their community over their own. They want to spend their time with family and loved ones, but a time comes when they must go stand in the gap for their community and their nation. We can honor them by living to serve others with our lives each and every day.

Our Lord and Savior is our greatest example of this kind of love and service. In Matthew 23:11, Jesus teaches, “The greatest among you will be your servant.” Jesus proved himself to be our greatest example of living as a servant. Philippians 2:8, “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” Let us pray that the Lord helps us have that eternal perspective and the humility to serve others with our lives.