Battle-Ready
As most of you know, I had the experience of becoming a United States Marine for four years and deploying to Iraq from 2008 to 2009. I enjoyed some great friendships during this time and learned some valuable and much-needed lessons about life. Some of those lessons still help me as I follow Christ, and I wanted to share one.
One of the most important lessons the Marine Corps taught me was to always be prepared. We always knew where our weapons were, and we never left on a convoy without every piece of armor and gear that was at our disposal. Whether we were in the office, in our tents, eating lunch at a forward observation base, or in the field training, we always knew that things could change at any second, and we were prepared to follow orders. Our leaders worked very hard to make sure we did not become complacent and comfortable with our surroundings, and there was wisdom in that. Comfort almost always lends itself to complacency, and as the Marines are fond of saying, “Complacency kills.” It is a harsh phrase, but its one that has saved many lives.
We can learn a lot from watching and understanding those at war, because as Christians, we are also at war, and eternal souls are at stake. The Bible tells us we have certain armor at our disposal that we should keep at the ready during this war, and it’s easy to become complacent and end up walking around in a war zone without protection.
Complacency is everywhere. Most of us live comfortable lives, and almost all of us carry a device of comfort in the palm of our hand every day. We work hard to find time to escape and check out instead of preparing ourselves and our families to be soldiers in the most important war since the creation of the universe. We over-indulge in the small pleasures of our modern world while souls fall in record number to the enemy.
We also get caught up in the tiny political battles of this present time and forget the war over our eternal souls. We trade what is of the utmost importance for trivial and petty fights over things that will be of absolutely no importance when the trumpet sounds and the Lord descends. We become distracted and invested in our small differences instead of working to unify in love and in the confidence of our salvation through grace and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Is your armor ready? Do you know what and where it is? Are you finding the joy in preparing and joining the war on side that will inevitably win? If the answer is no to any of those questions, pick up your Sword first and equip yourself with the Armor of God!