Soldiers

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 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 Tim 2:1-4 (NKJV)

I had the opportunity to hang out with the original Bible Answer Man, the late Dr. Walter Martin. He spoke a couple of times in my hometown and took a liking to me. He would call me up and say, "Ron, let's go to lunch." We would sit and have lunch, and I would eat while the good doctor talked. Talk about insight, Bible knowledge and a great heart for building the Kingdom of God. At the end of one of our lunches, Walter looked me in the eye and said, "As a young pastor, someone needs to tell you some things that you may never have heard before. Ron, I believe in you and God has called you to work for Him exclusively; therefore, as you work in God's Kingdom, be so busy with serving God that you don't take the time to throw rocks at the barking dogs."

What did he mean? He went on to explain: As a servant, a soldier of the Lord, work to please God and don't spend a lot of time worrying about what your critics think or say. Good advice! A good soldier of Christ does not get entangled in vain arguments with those who like to criticize,  but works passionately to please the Lord. This was good advice for a young pastor, because I needed to be prepared with the knowledge that whatever decisions I made--there would always be those that would second-guess, criticize and oppose my effort to follow the Lord.

This does not give spiritual leaders a license to make bad decisions or to ignore the advice of others; on-the-other-hand, we can not afford to ever forget who we are working for. Who is our ultimate Commander and Chief? A soldier cannot allow themselves to compromise the instruction of the Lord to please man. A soldier cannot allow themselves to be compromised by falling into the very sin that they war against. A soldier cannot allow themselves to be distracted by fame or notoriety. Like good soldiers, followers of Christ need to put the instruction and leading of the Lord before all else. We must remain His to command.

Prayer: "Dear heavenly Father, You know how much I liked to be liked by others. I really like avoiding confrontation or creating waves, but peace at any cost is not the calling of a soldier. As one of Your soldiers, help me to stand strong in the face of the enemy. May I be courageous when defending the weak or opposing that which is evil. May I be more concerned about serving Your purposes that pleasing man. Amen"