This past week, several communities across the nation held events honoring those who served the United States during the Vietnam War. Some states have proclaimed the last Sunday of every March as “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day.”
The reason for all of this attention is that when our soldiers came home from that particular war, many of them were booed, yelled at, spat upon and highly disrespected. Another way of putting it is that they were despised and rejected by their fellow men.
Reading about this reminded me of someone else in history who was treated this way and even worse. In the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament, it was prophesied that there would be one who would be “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering.” Then a little over 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ was born and fulfilled this prophesy.
In the book of John, it tells us that “he came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” He constantly was harassed and criticized and eventually was hung on a cross when all he did was go about doing good and teaching people the truth.
When the Vietnam soldiers came home, people made choices on how they received them, and today we make choices on how we receive our soldiers who come back from deployment. (By the way, thank the Lord that attitudes have changed for the better.)
The same is true with Jesus Christ. We all have to make a decision on whether we will accept him or reject him as the savior of the world. Every day is an opportunity to be a “Welcome Home Jesus Christ Day,” with the home being our own lives.
The good news is that the Scripture tells us Jesus is standing at our heart’s door and knocking, desiring to come in.