What are you living for? In jest, some of us might claim we live for footy. Others however will be dead (pun unintended) serious. They can tell you the stats of each game and their favourite player (or all of them). They wear the colours with pride. Some of us live for our family. We put in the hard yards so our kids can have adequate food, shelter and little things that bring them joy. There are those who live for the future, looking forward to the time when they can retire, or the next vacation, or the next time they can see their family again.
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Then there are those who live for an ideal. They have an idea, a dream, a set of values, and they not only work for it, they put their heart and soul into all their efforts to make this a reality. For these people, they have something worth dying for and this is what makes life worth living.
This is a theme that we reflect upon on Remembrance Day. We honour the thousands who died, or were willing to risk their lives because they had a cause worth dying for. Luke Hartsuyker, Cowper MP wrote, “We also reflect on the men and women who volunteer to join our defence forces prepared to fight and die for our country and the values we hold dear.”
There may be several other things that come to mind on Remembrance Day: the horrors of war, honouring those who died in battle, the price that societies pay when there is a conflict of nations, the high cost of peace, and the fact that we should never take that for granted. There are many things we enjoy today that were bought for us at a huge price.
For followers of Jesus, this can also be a time for us to reflect on what we are living for. Do we (as we sometimes sing in church) live for a greater cause? How much of our time and resources is spent with the Kingdom of God in mind? Or are we living just for “me”?
All brickbats, bouquets and banter welcome at pastor@pmbc.org.au