Day: 38

In mid-November, 156 years ago, a gifted orator stood up to deliver a speech at a cemetery in Maryland. At the time, he was the most famous speaker in the United States. His speech was beyond eloquent. You could see his gift with words in the quality of his writing simply by looking at his opening paragraph:

“Standing beneath this serene sky, overlooking these broad fields now reposing from the labors of the waning year, the mighty Alleghenies dimly towering before us, the graves of our brethren beneath our feet, it is with hesitation that I raise my poor voice to break the eloquent silence of God and Nature.”

His speech, while magnificent, went on for two hours! Today, you would struggle to find even one person who could recognize his speech.

On the heels of this gifted speaker came another whose speech would last two minutes. This 272-word speech is instantly recognizable, and I suspect that it will outlive the Republic of the United States. Epic in scope, yet masterfully brief, few orators in history have had the ability to pack so much pathos into so few words as did President Lincoln:

“Fourscore and seven years ago . . .  Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation . . .  can long endure. We have come to dedicate (the Gettysburg battlefield). . . we cannot dedicate – we cannot consecrate – we cannot make this ground holy.

“The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated to the unfinished work which they who fought; to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us.

We (will increase our) devotion to the cause for which they gave their (lives so that they won’t have died in vain) so that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (paraphrased in part)

His speech was given at the dedication ceremony for the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Maryland, where almost 8,000 men were killed. This was the site of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War.

On Hallowed Ground

Abraham Lincoln’s speech challenged the living by recognizing the great sacrifice of the fallen. Lincoln told his audience to preserve and maintain a great gift given to mankind: “a nation for the people, and by the people.” It was a call for the future generations of America to pick up the baton and finish the race started before them by these brave solders.

Just as Lincoln gathered around the graves of the fallen soldiers, you and I have gathered around the graves of the fallen martyrs to honor their lives. Like Lincoln, we can also learn much from their lives.

Like those who gave up their lives at Gettysburg, our martyred brothers and sisters were involved in a great struggle. They fought to preserve and build the kingdom of God. They fell into the ranks of the greatest battle in world history. An ongoing battle that stretches back to the beginning of the earth.

Though worldwide in scope, the bloodiest battles are concentrated in places with strange names like “Kano,” “Qaraqosh,” or “Aceh.”

It is a war between kingdoms for control over the earth and the souls of mankind.

D-Day

You are too are part of this war! Forget this and you may fall asleep and focus your life on a simple chase for comfort and ease or you will be utterly bewildered when shot at or wounded.

As Christians, we have landed on the shores of spiritual “Normandy.”

We are entering a land that is now in control of a spiritual dictator far more dangerous and deadly than Hitler.

The coast we have landed on is swarming with the enemy. They are dug in and well-armed by their leader. Their weapons are varied, much more complex than mere guns.

The enemy’s greatest tactic is to make you forget he’s out there, to make you forget that you are a key force in God’s eternal battle. He hopes you will settle into life and think like the world so that your life revolves around comfort, self-protection, and ease.

If those tactics don’t work, he will try to distract and enslave you. To get you to live for and through something other than God. These are the idols by which we are so easily trapped.

If those weapons don’t work then he will use lust, anger, fear, greed, distrust of God, anxiety, hopelessness, and a love of comfort to distract us from God’s purpose for our life: to glorify Him.

Our persecuted brothers and sisters across the sea are under no illusion. They are fully aware of the battle that surrounds them on all sides. They have much to teach us about the battle if we will observe and listen to them. They are whispering to you to come with them on a journey up a spiritual mountain, to a land where the air is clear and the views stunning.

It’s a hazardous journey up this mountain. Much in your backpack will have to be dropped off along the way if you are too make it to the top of the mountain.  But the end of the journey is worth it. For there, you will arrive at what your soul desperately hungers for:

True life.