God's Soldiers

I personally don't like to hear talk about how immoral and anti-Christian the world is becoming. I don't deny that many of the criticisms are valid or that a personal unwillingness of mine to face up to uncomfortable truths may be involved. But what stirs at least as much discomfort on my part is that the typical Christian social reformer rarely mentions loving one's enemies, let alone turning the other cheek or watching for one's own blind spots. Some attack the opposition with a viciousness that makes counteraccusations of hate speech all too understandable. One wonders if the campaign to bring the Bible back into public schools would allow for a history class pointing out that serious Christians once used the Scriptures to argue for slavery and segregation.

People still quote the Bible out of context to justify themselves--and more than one person has noted that of the seven deadly sins, anger is the one we try to justify most often. Now, anger isn't sinful if it involves indignation against true evil; it is a sin when based on a belief that we're too important to be subject to inconvenience. An appointment is fifteen minutes late? How dare he mess up your schedule! Someone contradicts you with a sneer? How dare she put you down! Can't find the job you want? It becomes all too easy to listen to malcontents who claim the economy would be perfect without those foreigners in the market--or that employers are just prejudiced against Christians.

While nothing in the Bible forbids taking a blatant injustice to court (but note Paul's admonition in 1 Cor. 6:1-8 that Christian-to-Christian disputes are best settled within the church) or fighting off a direct attack, a careful reading of the Scriptures would indicate that in the interest of love and compassion for one's fellow humans, counterattack should be a last resort.

For too many Christians, it's the first.

We live in a world of violence,
Where the answer to every blow
Is to strike back, and even harder:
"That's the only language they know."

We see nations fighting each other;
They all claim to stand for what's right:
Though they kill and drop bombs at random,
It's all justified in their sight.

People lash out against mistreatment--
Which may be in their minds alone--
And claim crushing the last oppressor
Is where seeds of true peace are sown.

And hate is not only directed
To the stranger or foreign foe:
It can grow in our hearts toward a brother
Or toward anyone we may know.

But it brings neither peace nor justice
Just to "punish the ones who sin,"
For we all have hearts tainted with evil--
The dividing line runs within.

And if we strike back, when wounded,
Only at the offenders we see,
We forgot it is non-human forces
Who are truly the enemy.

Let us not shun our Lord's own teaching
That submission is our true strength,
And that true peace begins within us,
Where true change can take place at length.

We as Christians are Heaven's soldiers,
And our swords are forged strong through prayer,
For true victory over evil
Has its only beginning there.

Let us put aside selfish anger
And the urge to despise and hate,
So we all can grow strong as warriors
In a cause that is pure and great,

Living lives based in humble mercy
And in eagerness to forgive,
Standing firm against Satan's army
As we live as our Lord would live.

Then our love may win others over
Without force that is fueled by rage,
And the way of our Christ spread outward
Till the day God turns earth's last page!

Master of Camouflage

"Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.... Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (Eph. 6:11; 1 Pet. 5:8).

Anyone who lives with a cat knows that members of the feline tribe don't approach their prey openly. Rather, they sneak up soundlessly, every move patiently calculated, eyes fixed firm on the target, until they judge themselves close enough to deliver the killing blow in one quick leap. Often, they maintain a literal low profile, particularly useful if you're a lion and your preferred habitat is grassland where much of the cover is shorter than you are.

The "roaring lion" who is the devil uses similar tactics. He doesn't show his real self openly, and he saves most of his roaring for boasting about his kills. When scheming to deliver a crippling blow to someone's spiritual health, he's more likely to purr, speaking soothingly about how this really isn't sinful and would be so wonderful. He watches his targets carefully, keeping an eye on how they react to certain situations and what they aren't paying attention to. Carefully he maneuvers his victim into position, covering his true nature with whatever innocuous-looking aspect of the environment he can hide behind--then when danger is least suspected, he makes the fatal suggestion that leads his prey to fall hard and leaves everyone stunned, wondering what happened.

Also like the natural predator, which selects its victims based on the perceived ease of overpowering them, the devil has an eye for those souls most vulnerable to temptation. Ironically, these are often the ones who seem strongest to human eyes: the wealthy executive, the high-profile superstar, even the Christian worker who seems to be accomplishing great things for God. The devil knows that the more "successful" we become in human terms, the easier we find it to start relying on our own abilities rather than God's supernatural power--and human nature being what it is, there's no guarantee of an exception when those abilities are used for strictly "Christian" work. The megachurch pastor who commits adultery with an attractive young counselee may well have started with the purest of intentions, but brushed off warnings about the temptations of being alone with her because he was sure he was above such carnal thoughts. He put his spiritual armor in the closet months before because he didn't think he needed it any longer, and he learned the hard way that his flesh was still vulnerable.

We're all equally helpless against the devil when we have only our own strength to rely on. Just as a gazelle must eat daily if it's to keep up its strength to escape lions, we have to replenish our spiritual defenses daily through prayer and Scripture.

"But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 15:57).

The devil is a master when
It comes to craft and art,
For he can paint the blackest sin
To lure the purest heart.

The devil is a master of
Deceit and subtle change,
And he can take the truest love
And twist it for his gain.

The devil is a master who
Perverts each thing that's good:
Beware, or he may work on you
Like craftsmen carving wood.

The only way to dodge the plans
This master thief can weave:
Find strength in Christ, the Son of Man,
Who saves all who believe.

Warfare

More than one Christian author has noted that the sea of faith is sailed not on a luxury yacht but on a battleship. At least one has stated that from the way many believers react to high waves, an observer would think the battle was against God rather than the devil! The worst grumblers, and the most likely to defect completely when things get nasty, are those who have little personal experience with persecution or struggle; there's a reason why military forces insist their fighters show respect, work hard, and stay in top physical condition even when there's no immediate likelihood of being deployed to battle.

Most of us in the wealthier societies doubt that we'll ever be "deployed" in the sense of having to give up all we own or risk imprisonment or martyrdom. Most of us in the wealthier societies would rather not even seriously consider the possibility. Most of us in the wealthier societies don't list Matthew 24 or 2 Timothy 3:12-13 or the bloodier passages of Revelation among our ten favorite Scripture passages for pondering applications to our own lives.

Whether we realize it or not, though, even the most "privileged" believer is already deployed to intense battle on a different level--and how we react to the thought of "hard times" is one sign of how well armed we really are. The battle is our responsibility to "demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up [in our hearts] against the knowledge of God, and [to] take captive every thought [of ours] to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5). Our opponents in this fight--the flesh and the devil--find their best ally in our belief that there are earthly things we can't live without and earthly situations we can't live with. If we had true faith in God and His promises, we could say with confidence, "Even if the world suffocates in its own heat, even if the economy collapses and takes civilization with it, even if going to church becomes a capital crime, I know that God will bring me safe into His Kingdom where all earthly sorrows will be forgotten; so I need not be afraid to persevere in His work, for nothing in this world can really hurt me."

Anything else is sitting in the bunker playing cards and hoping that the battle will go away if we ignore it. The battle that may have our side on the defensive due to a shortage of soldiers.

We each of us, as Christians,
Are soldiers of the Lord:
Our shield is faith in Jesus,
The Scriptures are our sword,
Our armor is the Gospel--
Salvation and good news,
And truth and righteous living,
Must be the path we choose.

The foes who stand against us
Are not of mortal flesh;
No human eye can see them,
Their schemes no mind unmesh.
Their weapons are temptation,
Discouragement, and fear;
And when we face disaster,
Their evil hand is near.

We cannot fight the battle
By human strength alone;
God's angels are our allies,
Our power flows from His Throne.
Nor are our marching orders
All focused on defense,
To keep our own souls guarded,
Held safe behind a fence.

No, we are God's offensive
To storm the devil's ground,
To free the souls held captive
Wherever they are found:
The Kingdom forges forward
With Jesus in the lead,
And we are called to conquer
And rush to every need.

The battle is relentless,
But bound for victory;
Though some may fall in fighting,
Their souls are ever free
And blessed with Heaven's honors;
And someday soon the war
Will end in praise and glory
And peace forevermore!

Greater Is He Who Is in You

When asked what he did upon meeting temptation, one man replied--bitterly, not with humor--"I yield!"

Sometimes temptation does seem near impossible to resist. It can range from the more-or-less insignificant--"I know I decided not to waste my time with computer games, but what else is there to do while sitting in front of the monitor waiting for a poky connection to be established?"--to the coward's way out--"I don't want them thinking I'm a fire-and-brimstone type; I'll be a more effective witness, anyway, if they get to know me as a person before seeing me as a Christian stereotype"--to the plunge into outright sin--"I realize sex is wrong outside marriage, but she's so beautiful, and we're alone; surely it can't hurt anyone just this once." Some people even blame God for their own actions: "If He doesn't want me to do this, why did He let me get into a situation where it seems the only logical recourse?"

At such times, the Scriptural truth, "The one who is in you [that is, God the Holy Spirit] is greater than the one who is in the world [that is, the 'god of this world,' the devil]" (1 John 4:4, NIV), can be tough to remember and even tougher to believe. But it's never true that a person "had no choice" but to do the wrong thing. Many affluent Christians, especially, are major wimps when weighed on the "scale of suffering"--from ridicule to ostracism to physical abuse to death. Never seriously considering the possibility of having to go all the way to the end, they are afraid even to see out the first stage. How unlike the early Christians, who were not only willing to suffer for Christ but considered it a privilege (Acts 5:40-41).

Those first disciples were strong because they kept constantly aware of Christ's nearness and because pleasing Him meant more to them than did anything else. If we appreciate Christ's power in us, we needn't yield to the temptations of the world around us.

Though temptations from all sides assail us,
Though the world mocks our faith and heaps scorn,
Though all things that we trusted may fail us,
Though we be left distraught and forlorn,
Let us not cower in fear from the hater,
Let us not turn away, lost to doubt:
For the God Who is in us is greater
Than all powers of the world round about.

Though our flesh may be prone to temptation,
Though our selfishness pull us away,
Though our courage have strong reservation,
Though our hearts tend to lead us astray,
Let us not leave the battle for "later,"
Let us not doubt our power to withstand:
For the God Who is in us is greater
Than all strength of the flesh and its brand.

Though the demons of hell rise against us,
Though all evil seem bent on our doom,
Though the devil himself work amidst us,
And assault with dissension and gloom,
Let him find us unwilling to cater
In the least to deceptions and lies:
For the God Who is in us is greater
Than all powers that from hell can arise!

The Great War

People become Christians for different reasons. Some are raised in the church and simply "grow into" personal faith. Some are attracted by the peace and joy they see in Christian acquaintances. Some people come to Christ out of desperation, having found everything else empty.

And some, sadly, convert in the hope that life will become all prosperity and ease. True, there is plenty "in it for us": forgiveness of sins; eternal salvation; increased strength to do right and to meet life's challenges. But the new believer whose primary motive is to see an end to those challenges is a likely candidate to fall away when God fails to "deliver." Often, well-meaning but not particularly well-informed believers are responsible for spreading the idea that "if you have faith, God will heal every illness, solve every financial problem, and remove every frustration." Some Christians are such zealots for this way of thinking that one wonders if they've ever really read the New Testament. How can they overlook the references to discipline, the hardships suffered by the apostles, and such verses as "everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Tim. 3:12)?

Not all such persecution comes from the unbelieving world. Some comes from the devil (who often trains his guns especially hard on new Christians and others with imminent spiritual-growth potential) and takes the form of illness, professional or financial difficulties, or just one day after another when everything seems to go wrong. Some persecution, sadly, comes from fellow believers: there are Christians who become envious and spiteful when God does great things through others; there are Christians who love church tradition more than God and who consider every new approach heretical; and there are Christians who add to others' suffering with platitudes of "you must have done something to deserve it" and "you obviously don't have enough faith to be healed."

And some of us take the role of our own persecutors. We lampoon ourselves for not growing faster or doing better. We focus on the size of our problems rather than on the size of our God. We add to our miseries by convincing ourselves that nothing ever goes right and God doesn't really care. We refuse to grow in Christ because it seems like too much work.

It is work. God doesn't call us to sign up for the extended vacations of our choice, but to enlist in His army. And it's not a peacetime army where the greatest hardships are running through obstacle courses and cleaning mess halls; good and evil are at active war in this world, and all of us are combat soldiers on hostile foreign territory.

Our Commanding Officer never loses a fight. But that won't do us much good if we go AWOL, refuse to follow orders, or question His battle plan. Strangely enough, the greatest "peace in Christ" goes to His hardest-fighting soldiers.

Fiercer far than any mortal battle ever fought on earth,
Longer far than any war that ever came to humankind,
Is the war fought by each Christian from the moment of rebirth,
The great battle that is centered in the selfish, sinful mind.

More relentless than the fighting waged in any human war,
Most incessant of all battles, never stopping for a rest,
Is the fight of every Christian to subdue all thoughts impure,
On the battlefield of life--the constant ground for Satan's test.

We, mere mortals, are too weak to fight the war without support;
We have nothing we can draw on in the human world alone.
It is God Who works within us; it is He Who builds the fort
And Who forges through His Spirit weapons of a mightier tone.

Through our faith in Christ we find the Strength in which we overcome;
Through our trust in Him we know the Power that brings us sure release.
And one day, all fighting over, we will rest in Heaven's home;
But within the battle, even now, we feel God's perfect peace.

The Human Mind Is a Battleground

Some sinful habits--such as drunkenness or pornography--can at least be kept under control by avoiding the material sources of enticement. But how does one escape from primarily mental temptations--resentment, greed, or pride? How does one deal with the even more insidious tendency to allow relatively harmless, but nonconstructive, thoughts to crowd out thoughts of God? Obviously, physically running away from our own minds is not an option. And keeping constant check on the thought life can soon leave a person wondering if there's any hope outside of the unlikely two months in solitary confinement.

Of course, at their root all temptations are of the mind--you can lock someone in a room full of marshmallows for three hours and not tempt her to eat too many, if she hates them to begin with. And Jesus said (Mk. 7:15) that the real problem is not what we take in from outside, but what we already have inside. Nonetheless, the fact remains that sinful thoughts have to be attacked head on far more frequently than any material sin--and the battle is often exhausting and seemingly endless. So often we're tempted to surrender. So often we do surrender.

Part of the trouble is that we see no option besides either surrendering or fighting the whole battle ourselves. Actually, it's no sin to say, "I can't keep up this fight," because the truth is, we can't! Our Commander in Chief--not we ourselves--plans the battle and stands ready to furnish us with ammunition for every moment. If we kept a constant ear open for His orders (including orders to take time for rest), and always followed them promptly, we'd do fine. What most of us do wrong is to get into the habit of making our own way in "ordinary" things, and only calling for help when the situation is desperate. God still enables us to fight our way out, but it's a much longer and tougher battle than it would have been had we followed our Leader consistently from the beginning.

Ultimately, God does all the fighting--we can act only through His strength (cf. John 15:4-5). We can take comfort in knowing that He is more than equal to any battle, that He will not leave His work in us unfinished (Phil. 1:6), and that in Heaven temptation will be forever banished.

The human mind is a battleground
That can rarely know pure, true peace;
So long as we still here on earth are found,
The war's battles will never cease,
That great war between what we know is right
And the things that our flesh would crave--
And the Christian has all the harder fight,
Than the devil's most willing slave.

The human mind is a battleground
Full of strong infiltrators named
Pride, and Greed, and Spite, and Just Lounge Around,
And Conceit, and the Lust for Fame.
And though we possess the Lord's mighty power
That will give us the strength to win,
As the fight drags on through each mortal hour,
It's so tempting to just give in.

The human mind is a battleground--
But take heart, for the war will end,
And our souls will rest in the peace we found
In our Lord, our Forever Friend.
So be strong and brave, and hold to God's Word:
Those who stand to the end will find,
On the day when He shatters evil's sword,
Perfect, undisturbed peace of mind!