Reflections from a Sermon about Hacksaw Ridge

I wrote a devotion after hearing a sermon over a week ago. It is listed below.

After hearing a message in church and writing the devotion, I rented the Hacksaw Ridge movie. As I watched it, I began to realize that the film was based at the location where my grandfather was when he was killed in World War II. It prompted me to investigate, and I was so blessed to find the many details that were available in his story that I didn't know.  But below is the devotion written about the sermon.

The sermon Sunday morning began with a movie clip from the movie “Hacksaw Ridge.” Below is an excerpt of the clip.

 

“I can’t hear you, Lord,” [loud explosions all around and total chaos]

“What do you want from me?”

A distant cry for help is heard…

 

“Help me save one more.”

While the story was very applicable to the message to come, my mind was already going.  I began to converse in my heart and mind with the Lord as I processed this statement from the movie. 

 We are surrounded by many lost people who are dying in their sin as well as the wounded people all around us. The movie clip made me think of how the Body of Christ needs to head into the explosions of this life to help rescue those wounded in battle.  However, we do not do it on our own.  We do it as we cry out to our Lord to HELP us save one more.  We need Him to identify them, to find them, and to be able to help them.

As I reflected upon this point, I began to mull over the idea of what we would need to do before moving out on such a mission.  We need to focus on God and not the mission.  We need to be immersed in the reality of the love of God for us.  We need to see what great love He has lavished on us that we are now called the children of God.  The love is there, but we need to be aware of it and enter it. We need to meditate upon it.  The outcome of this effort will help produce our motivation and spur us on to overwhelming love for those who are lost and wounded.  We will not serve any purpose in our own sense of duty or obligation.  For that matter, none of us respond well when someone is serving us out of duty or obligation.  We must serve them out of our love. 

 As we proceed through the week, let’s begin by contemplating just how much God loves us, reminding us that God thinks about us; we are on His mind.  He loved us so much that He sent His most loved son to pay for our sin so that we could be in a relationship with the God of the universe.  Wow, meditate on that level of payment and sacrifice.  Allow that to settle over you today.  Then meditate on those who have not received this gift.  Ask God to put a face on the thought.  Once you have a face, begin to ask God to give you His eyes for that person.  Begin to pray for that person and ask for an opportunity to share the love of Christ with them.  Do it humbly, lovingly yet urgently.   Maybe start by asking as Pastor Michael mentioned he had done, “I’ll be praying later today, how can I pray for you?” 

Each one of us is invited to this wonderful relationship.  What if God wants you to be the living invitation, He is writing to someone today?  It is God’s will that they RETURN to HIM!  It is His will that they are reconciled with Him.   Once each of us is reconciled to God, we are to be about the Father’s business of reconciling others with God.  So, dwell on the love of God until you are filled with such love it begins to spill out onto this broken world.  Be the invitation sent with love from the Father to His lost sheep.