This past Friday the country remembered the 25th anniversary of 9/11. The memories include terror, trauma, loss, heaviness, grief, confusion, impacted mental and physical health and more. However, underneath the bad, there was good too. Each year as we remember, there are more untold stories coming forward about unity, people coming together to help strangers, the commitment and diligence of first responders and how that impactful event changed the mindset and trajectory of lives to live with gratitude and appreciation of life. 

Not everyone was in the same location that day, but people of age can remember the exact place they were, things they were doing and people they were with. The impact spread across the world. 

We remember. 

We remember the critical reality that freedom and sacrifice costs and that love and care for others will cause you to act. 

We remember. 

Our physical world has a tight connection to the spiritual. So in our remembering, I want you to remind you about a man and what he did over 2,000 years ago. Jesus understands sacrifice, the weight of sin, that freedom costs (His life) what moving towards ‘danger’ feels like (Calvary), physical impairment (beating before the Cross) and being committed to His ‘role’ (doing the will of the Father). 

Never diminishing the lasting impacts of 9/11 but just as we remember that day, the word says to remember Him and his sacrifice. 1 Corinthians 11:25 says, “In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

The freedom that Christ died for is available to anyone that believes. His gospel and kingdom will reach to all the corners of the earth. 

We are called to remember His sacrifice for us. 

We remember so that we don’t forget. We remember because it’s easy to forget. We remember because we are to build our lives around that truth. We remember because He is our everything!

Just as we thank first responders for what they’ve done, we have to thank God all the more for what He’s done, what He’s enabled man to do and accomplish and what He will do in the future. 

We remember.

See you next week!