Endure Hardness as a Soldier

“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” (2 Timothy 2:3)

Everybody loves a good war movie, it seems. In a movie we get to see easily identified the bad guys – the enemy – and we also get to see our guys – the good guys. The good thing about watching a truly good war movie is we get to see behind the scenes on both sides. We get to see and hear the plans, we watch as they unfold in the plot of the movie – so we have advance notice of what’s coming. Like I said, we all love a good war movie.

Unfortunately for us, the wars we face in our daily lives don’t come with a script. Oh sure, we know who our ultimate enemy is, but we don’t always know who he will use as his agents of attack. We know what his desire is against us – to kill, steal, and destroy – but we don’t know how he will attempt to kill us, what he plans on stealing from us, or what havoc and destruction he will try to accomplish in our lives to reach his ultimate goal. So, if we have no script and no behind the scenes intel how are we to prepare?

Unlike civilian military branches, our Christian army doesn’t necessarily have a handbook or syllabus that lays out our training schedule. We are told things like pray without ceasing, be vigilant, be watchful, be on guard, etc, yet there is no set training process seemingly in place. We are instructed to follow the commands of God and listen for the leading of the Holy Spirit – and yes, those are vital – but what about the rest? Let’s look at our military training in civilian life and see if we can gain any insight or guidance on enduring hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

I entered the U.S. Army on the night of July 5, 1982. I know, I know, that makes me old. We (as a training group) were assembled from all over the United States, separately whisked away at night by plane to arrive near our training station – which for me was Fort McClellan, Alabama. We arrived around 3 A.M., were taken to the mess hall for something to eat, then escorted to our barracks to bed down for the rest of the night. At this point, there was no apparent training happening – but oh how wrong we were. At O’dark thirty that morning (around 5:00 A.M. - less than an hour of sleep) we were awakened by the inprocessing personnel. These were not our “trainers” – our Drill Instructors – but they were a very important part of what the Army was doing to us already.

Once we were startled awake (the trash can and lid scenes in the movies are real) we were walked – we hadn’t yet learned how to march – back to the mess hall for breakfast, followed by a day of paperwork, issuing uniforms, etc, etc. We were sleep deprived, many of us were still suffering from jet lag, we were in unfamiliar territory around people we didn’t know, and now we had all our hair cut off. We were being stripped of our identities, we were in total control, and everything we did was wrong. The slightest “infraction” cost us pushups, verbal abuse, and other punishments at the will of our handlers. We only stayed in the transfer station for 3 days, after which the introduction to our Drill Instructors came. It was pandemonium to say the least. Sometime pull up a YouTube video of what is commonly called “Hell Week” and watch the indoctrination we all went through the first official day of boot camp. It is an eye opener.

For the next eight weeks (more or less depending upon your branch of service and duty assignment) we were under 24/7 scrutiny. The barracks had two-way speakers all throughout so the Drill’s could hear what we were saying and doing, they allowed us little to no time for bathroom breaks, we were not allowed back into the barracks during the training day. We ate when they told us, we ate WHAT they gave us, we slept when they allowed us (usually only 3-5 hours a night), we went where they told us, we did what they ordered us to, and we unlearned everything we ever knew. Our minds, bodies, and souls belonged to the United States government. We were not our own – we had been bought with a price – and that price was our complete submission at the cost of our lives if need be. If we got sick because of something we did, we were punished for damaging government property. It was mentally, physically, and emotionally totally crushing. According to plan, we were de-programmed in our thinking and everything we knew was gone. We had no family, we had no spouses, no children, we had no friends, and there was limited contact with the outside world. The first four to five weeks were spend grinding us all into a common pile of Olive Drab green powder. Our Drill Instructors’ jobs from that point forward was to mix us up – making us one with each other (forming a unit) – and reassemble a fighting force that ate, slept, breathed, and lived according to Army standards. The next time our loved ones saw us they immediately noticed the change. We went into boot camp lazy, fat, undisciplined, and unfocused but we came out lean, disciplined, highly-trained fighting machines. Our ONLY priority from that moment on became the needs and commands of the United States government. We were united as a front but divided in our missions. We became companies of 100-150, further divided into platoons of 30-40, squads of 8-10, and fire teams of 3 or 4. But however we were sent out, our allegiance and our lives were 100% devoted to the service of our government.

I know as you are reading or hearing this you are thinking, “But Tim, you still haven’t given a training program for us as Christians.” That is true at the moment; however, perhaps in the days and weeks to come I can devise some such program and put it out for you. In the meantime, it is IMPERATIVE you connect yourself to a local church or Bible study group and begin learning alongside them. The older ones will act as guides for you – to help determine where you are in your Christian walk, what areas you need additional training, and they will become your own personal Band of Brothers and Sisters. I will tell you right now if one of my military brothers or sisters called me even today – after forty years – that they were in trouble and needed my help, I would immediately drop my plans and fly to their relief without question and without condemnation. We become one with each other back then and that has never changed. They would do the same for me. We were (and probably still are) as diverse a group as you can imagine – different races, sexes, sexual orientations, religions, and nationalities – yet we remain to this day a true Band of Brothers. We shed blood together, we cried together, we celebrated together, we helped each other through, we have stood at the graves of our brothers and sisters who died in conflict. Such should be the passion within the Church of Jesus Christ, the Bride.

I pray you can find such a gathering you can join. I pray God will lead you to your people. I pray that He will allow them to open up and enfold you into their assembly. And I pray, as Jesus prayed, that we might become one even as He Is One.

Be blessed.