Symbols of Lost Cause? Never!

Today, July 4th, 2026, my son and I watched one of our favorite patriotic movies, The Patriot. Now Jay and I have seen this movie who knows how many times - and yet I can take something different away from it every time. Yes, I know there are historical flaws. Yes, I know it is also a fictional story based on some real events in the Revolutionary War and the man in local South Carolina history, Francis Marion. But what stood out to me this time had to do with symbols.

It occurred to me right after Gabriel's (Heath Ledger's character) assignment to be under his father's command. He and Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) had just witnessed a contingent of the colonial regulars get crushed by the Redcoats. Just after Gabriel is given his orders to recruit men for the militia, and where to go, one of the wounded soldiers from the defeated colonists sees Gabriel tuck an old, tattered flag into his travel bag. The soldier just glumly tells him, "It's a lost cause," and Gabriel says nothing and rides away to carry out his mission. I am not sure why this moment stuck out to me this time, and it hasn't so many of the other times I watched the movie.

But it hit me, like a frying pan over the head.

The cause, no matter what it is that you believe you are fighting for, is never lost - as long as you have the mindset that the cause is never lost. This is true for the American flag. And it is true for the cross that symbolizes Jesus Christ and the ultimate price He paid for our sins. And that's just it... these are symbols for things that should never be forgotten. That is the mindset that we should have. We should never idolize these symbols, and there can be a thin line between idolatry and remembrance, or idolatry and reverence. But I love how Ledger's character just gives a look to the defeated soldier, but lets his actions demonstrate his mindset.

It's actions that show whether we really stand up for something, or not. If you are defeated and give up, then yes - the cause is lost, for you. But we can't let the naysayers and the defeated, affect our own mindsets to 'stay the course.'

There are plenty of people in America who are ready to give up. I mean, I am of an age that I am ready to give up on some methods of fighting. But I discovered something long ago that God gave me the power to use, that many of us have and just don't use in the right ways. As a matter of fact, I have abused and misused that gift from time to time. That gift that many of us Americans have, and just don't use, or use in inflammatory ways that will never convince anyone about anything, is VOICE.

Voice and action can go together. But how?

How can I make a stand for Christ, with my voice, without joining right in on a physical fight?

How can I make a stand for America, with my voice, without adding to the fire and dividing us more and more?

It comes back to mindset. It comes back to what you want others to see you and hear you do. And I think the cause for Truth (Christ), and the cause for freedom, and our nation, can all go together. Because make no mistake about it, Christian American ideals, western civilization itself, and freedom even in Jesus Christ - are all under attack. All of these things are being defeated in parts of our own country. There are entire swaths of Europe where these ideals used to be prevalent, and have not just been defeated, but replaced. Some would consider the momentum by certain ideologies like communism and Islam to be so rapid and overwhelming, they might throw around such terms as 'lost cause' to describe Christianity, or patriotism.

But go back to the symbols, the inspiration for this whole blog post. The cross represents the ultimate price the Creator of the Universe paid for all of us. Islam looks at that very symbol and screams, 'submit to us or else;' 'your Savior is false and your God is blasphemy, and you are defeated.' It is up to us all to use our voices, and proclaim the Gospel of Christ. It is up to us to have the mindset that - NO, THE CAUSE WILL NEVER BE LOST, BECAUSE JESUS IS COMING AGAIN, AND I WILL NOT DENY THE TRUTH. We don't even have to be confrontational. Look at what the character in the story did again. He looked at the doubter, saddled up, and drove on with his mission! That is what we need to do with the Gospel of Christ. Bring it through modeling it, telling it to people who don't know, and defend what we know to be true...and never be doormats to be walked right over by the scoffers.

What about the cause for freedom? It turns out, this nation was founded by men who were indeed Christian. No, not every one of them, but all of them down to the last man accepted and acknowledged inalienable rights given by 'Our Creator.' That means something. 250 years didn't just happen for no reason. There is an origin story, and many of the men in that origin story actually understood this: "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corinthians 3:17, NIV). Communists and Socialists alike will scoff at the very notion of freedom, which is completely antithetical to Paul's letter to the church at Corinth. Freedom meant something to our founding fathers, and it meant something to the early church fathers as well.

To quote another Mel Gibson character, "What will you do without freedom?"

Think about that question. Think about the religion that tells all of us, we must submit. That's not freedom, and that means there is no Spirit of the Lord present in that religion; thus, it is a false religion. Think about ideologies that want to oppress and suppress, and deny freedom altogether. Communism tells you that you will own nothing, and you will worship the state. There is no freedom there. There is only godlessness. And where there is no God, there are no morals - and oppressors can do whatever they want to you. These are causes I would never fight for. And here's the thing - they are the real lost causes, because regardless of their mindset, unless they repent and turn to the Lord, they WILL LOSE.

But make no mistake about it, God gave us symbols to remember where we came from. He gave us symbols, like the Israelites and the 12 rocks at the river Jordan. He gave us symbols that although have been idolized, remember times like when the Israelites stared at the bronze snake on the staff, and were healed from snake venom. He even gave us symbols like the American flag, which stands for all of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives fighting for something greater than themselves. Forget the corruption in government; men and women died to protect ideals that they knew were bigger than themselves.

Finally, God gave us the cross. No - we don't need to worship the symbol, but it is still a symbol of sacrifice. Millions have died for that symbol, for what Jesus did for us on that cross. It would be easy to think, 'well, that's a lost cause' because so many people who persevered in faith still died. But don't you see? If eternal life is what awaits those of us who give our lives to Christ, and die to the earthly things and the flesh of this world, then our mindset, demonstrated by our actions and our voices, can be contagious enough to motivate others to believe. They can believe that even if they die themselves, someone else will pick up that cross, or fold up that flag, and keep fighting, or keep riding for the cause.

Then they can be like Old Glory, waving on top of a hill.

They can be like the cross in between two thieves - only to result in bright light exploding out of an empty tomb.

They can stand up for a cause that will not only never be lost, but will be the ultimate victory for freedom, in the end - when Christ comes again.