By: Carole L. Haines
These words keep coming back to me, “the last full-measure of Devotion.” They come from one of the greatest pieces of writing ever to grace a pen, The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln. God has me fixed on this beautiful writing piece and my mind keeps going back to these words.
“It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.”
(Abraham Lincoln)
This reminds me so much of our call from Christ to finish the work He has laid out before us. To baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We have been called to be faithful in this call to reach and disciple those who do not know Jesus yet.
For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose on their behalf.
Therefore, from now on we recognize no one by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Corinthians 5:14-17)
Christ gave the last full measure of Devotion to His Father, and to the Love which He had for us before the foundation of the world. When He says to love your neighbor as yourself, it is implied that we must learn to love ourselves, receiving God’s view of us, His perfect love for us. We must adopt His view of ourselves before we can see others through the Lens of God’s love.
This Scripture says that we “recognize no one according to the flesh.” This word, recognize means-to have regard for, cherish, pay attention to.” We are no longer to be interacting with ourselves or others in a worldly way, according to the flesh. We are now called to interface with each other from the perspective of belonging to Christ and His Body.
We are not our own. We have been bought with a price. We must embrace God’s love for us as we Journey out of fear. Only then can we truly embrace God’s love for others and thus His view of others. Be Blessed this day, Dear Believer.
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