The most memorable line in the recent movie "Pearl Harbor" occurs, in my opinion, well before the battle. Young Lt. McCauley has volunteered to fight the Nazis over England with the RAF. Upon arrival, his new squadron commander asks, "Are all Yanks as anxious as you to get themselves killed?" He replies, "Not anxious to die, sir, just anxious to matter."

Pearl Harbor was the big wake-up call to the nation. It shook us out of our complacency and self-absorption. It placed us on emergency status. Men and women of every age recognized that their personal lives were among the trivialities that had to be set aside in order to "get the job done." Since September 11th, those of us too young to remember World War II have had at least a small dose of what the Greatest Generation endured, and how they must have felt.

Looking back over my 40-something years of observation, I have seen few Christians who seemed truly anxious to matter in this world. The vast majority seem intent upon a happy and comfortable life, the joy and comfort of traditional marriage and family, material prosperity, and going to heaven when they die. Few seem driven by a mission, a calling, a cause that is greater than themselves, beyond personal considerations, something worth fighting for, something worth dying for. "If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live" (Martin Luther King, Jr.).

We Christians have a Cause that is much more than just and good -- it is the most important thing in the world. Shouldn't we steel ourselves for the battle, gird our loins, be ever active, vocal, energetic, ambitious, selfless, courageous, and dutiful in seeing it to a successful conclusion, while we yet live? 

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