In The House Of Sin

~East Cemetary Hill at Gettysburg National Cemetary~

"But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we can not hallow this ground.  The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.  The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.  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 - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
~Abraham Lincoln in dedication of the national cemetary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on 19 November, 1863~

On the occasion of the dedication of the burial ground of the dead of one of the deadliest battles of the American civil war, president Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the great orations of our time.  Against this backdrop of so many who died in defense of the union, Lincoln brought attention to their ultimate sacrafice.  It mattered not that Gettysburg, now seen as the turning point of a long and brutal conflict, had been the deadliest battle so far.  What mattered was that the union had been preserved.  General Robert E Lee's army of northern Virginia had been defeated, the union army, led by major general George Meade, had held the line.  Not lost in Lincolns speech was one of the underlying causes of the conflict, the right of slave ownership.  Those in the confederacy believed they had that very right, while Lincoln and many in the union despised such practice.  For the very issue of slave ownership had been the issue which had nearly torn the union apart.  Those in the south, the confederacy, had believed in their cause so strongly that they were willing to risk war and the end of our nation.  Of course, the union victory and the upholding of our nation did not end the struggle for former slaves.  For freedom did not mean an end to persecution and harassment from the democrat parties klu klux klan enforcers of southern ideology.  It is difficult to imagine why one would choose slave ownership over letting freedom run its course.  However, the issue of slavery is not simply a American issue.  For Gods own people, the Isrealites, were held in bondage in Egypt.  There are few civilizations which have not been stained by this issue.  But do we, as followers of Christ Jesus, realize that we ourselves were once held in bondage as well?  The apostle Paul seemed to believe as much.

Knowing that our old man was crucified with Him,that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.  For he who has died has been freed of sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.  Death no longer has dominion over Him.  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.  Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Therefore do notlet sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
Romans 6: 6-12 NKJV

One thing I have heard over and over again from many a professed christian is that they are but "Sinners saved by Gods grace."  It is as if they continue to reside in the house of sin, with no possible chance of freedom.  Unlike the plantations of the American south, which came to symbolize our own practice of slavery, the "House of sin" which many christians continue to reside are mansions of their own choosing.  For they choose to continue tolive in that bondage of sin.  What is a definition of a slave but one who obeys the wishes of their masters?  Have we not obeyed our sin in its lusts?  I know I have.  However, as God delivered the Isrealites from slavery in Egypt, I have been freed from my own bondage through Christ Jesus.  For it is Jesus Himself who became sin for us and was crucified on that tree.  that sin, my debt which I once carried, was put to death with Him.  It is this piece of me which has indeed died with Christ, that that body of sin I once carried would be put to death.  I have died, I have been freed from that body of sin.  Jesus not only forgave my sins past, present and future, but assured that my debt was indeed paid.
Today, that battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania is a somber reminder of the blood from both sides of an ideology which was spilled in the bitter fight to uphold what each thought was a right and just cause.  We do well to not only remember their sacrafice, but to make sure they did not fight and die in vain.

~Scott~