ANZAC Day reminder.

Today we commemorated one of the most sacred days on the Australian calendar. A day where we cast our eyes back 100 years to the shores of Gallipoli and remember the sacrifice that was made for us. We also remember the countless other sacrifices men and women in our armed forces have made for us as Australians over the years.

On ANZAC Day we have a very real, and powerful, idea that we cannot take the freedom we enjoy in our nation for granted. It was bought at a great cost. I am always moved to see the response of children and teenagers to the commemoration of ANZAC Day. It seems more and more are committed to making it to dawn services, partaking in marches and doing tangible things to remember the price of freedom and to honour those who paid the ultimate price. I remember in school having WWI and WWII veterans come and speak to us about the war – they were always moving stories that stirred my heart. However, even though today the first person stories are becoming rarer and harder to find, the sentiment of honouring our diggers seems to be growing. I feel that is something we can be proud about as a nation.

As Christians, though, it should also serve as a reminder that there is an even greater freedom that we all too often do take for granted (and that many in our nation today completely ignore). The price for the freedom from the punishment of sin was even greater than the price paid on those Turkish cliffs in 1915 – God Himself came to pay for our freedom, and in dying on the cross Jesus paid the penalty for sin for all of humankind, till the end of the ages. The weight of that punishment on Him must have been so great – but how often do we turn to our own selfish desires and take for granted what He did for us?

Today, let’s honour Jesus, like we honour the ANZACs, lest we forget the ultimate price Jesus paid, and the ultimate worth He has for our worship.