A loyal soldier

“You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” (2 Timothy 2:3-4)

    This verse has always meant a lot to me. Probably, since I spent 25 years on active duty as a soldier it struck a sensitive cord in my heart. It is easy to envision myself as a soldier who has enlisted in the Lord’s Army and to understand the significance of that enlistment. However, I know that it is hard for someone who has never served in the military to understand the importance of discipline, loyalty, and obedience. But I do believe that it should be easy to understand that it is a war that you have signed up for when you gave your life to Christ and not a Sunday stroll in the park.

   Oswald Chambers, was not a soldier, (although he served  as a member of the YMCA with the British Army in Egypt during World War I), but he can explain the importance of serving as a soldier for the Lord better than anyone I have ever read. Here is what he has to say about Paul’s advice to Timothy:

   “The first requirement of the worker is discipline voluntarily entered into. It is easy to be passionate, easy to be thrilled by spiritual influences, but it takes a heart in love with Jesus Christ to put the feet in His footprints, and to square the life to a steady ‘going up to Jerusalem’ with Him. Discipline is the one thing the modern Christian knows nothing of; we won’t stand discipline nowadays. God has given me an experience of His life and grace; therefore, I am a law unto myself.

    The discipline of a worker is not in order to develop his own life, but for the purposes of his Commander. The reason there is so much failure is because we forget we are here for one thing, loyalty to Jesus Christ; otherwise we have no business to have taken the vows of God upon us. If a soldier is not prepared to be killed, he has no business to have enlisted as a soldier. The only way to keep true to God is by a steady persistent refusal to be interested in Christian work and to be interested alone in Jesus Christ. …..

    Our Lord Himself is the example of a disciplined life. He lived a holy life by sacrificing Himself to His Father; His words and His thinking were holy because He submitted His intelligence to His Father’s word, and He worked the works of God because He steadily submitted His will to His Father’s will; and as is the Master, so is the disciple.” (My Utmost Devotional Bible, reading 302 by Oswald Chambers.)

Pray:

1.     Lord, thank you for allowing me to enlist as a soldier in Your army. You are my Commander and my desire is to be obedient to Your commands.

2.     Help me to always to keep my eyes focused on You and Your word and to not get sidetracked with things that look good but are not directed by You.

3.     Fill me with Your Spirit today so that I will be receptive to Your leading and help me to be quick to obey whenever You direct my way.