With the national coffers depleted from a series of costly wars, King Frederick William III of Prussia found his nation seriously short of funds as it attempted to rebuild. He refused to capitulate to his enemies and couldn’t face disappointing his people. He asked the women of Prussia to bring their gold and silver jewellery to be melted down and used in exchange for the things the nation desperately needed. As each woman brought her jewellery, she was given a ‘decoration’ of iron as a symbol of the king’s gratitude. On it was inscribed the words: ‘I gave gold for iron, 1813.’ The women came to prize their gifts from the king more than their former jewels! Their decorations were proof they had sacrificed for their king. In fact, it became highly unfashionable in early nineteenth-century Prussia for women to wear jewellery but very fashionable to wear a cross of iron. It was from this that the Order of the Iron Cross was established. There are two sides to the Christian life: blessing and sacrifice. Paul said: ‘Everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord’ (Philippians 3:8 NLT). Jesus spelled out the cost of discipleship: ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me’ (Matthew 16:24 NKJV). The hymnist wrote: ‘“Take up thy cross and follow me,” I hear my blessed Saviour call. How can I make a lesser sacrifice when Jesus gave his all?’

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.